


I Married the Devil

by Sung_gi



Series: Four Worlds And the Devil [1]
Category: Super Junior
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fantasy, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-12-29
Updated: 2014-03-10
Packaged: 2018-01-06 15:57:46
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 20
Words: 62,700
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1108742
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sung_gi/pseuds/Sung_gi
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>That happened when we were still young. Getting married at the age of 18 was crazy and my parents were totally and completely against it. They never really accepted it. They never accepted Hyukjae, to be honest, saying that there was something wrong with him. Especially my mom was against our marriage because it was Hyukjae I married. It was different with my father, who never accepted me because of my sexuality. With my mom, it felt like she was afraid of something, and in fact, she was terrified of Hyukjae. At the time I was too deep in love and naïve that I couldn’t care less about my family's opinions. But now I know I should have listened to them.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Worry

**Author's Note:**

> The ratings of the chapters will vary. I'll have a note informing you how high the rating of each chapter will be.  
> Other than that, ENJOY READING!

_It all started in high-school, where he suddenly joined the same chemistry lessons that I was taking. He was new in the school and our homeroom teacher asked me to show him around._

_He was the most gorgeous guy I had ever met. So of course I showed him the school. And I did it gladly. He was really nice and wasn't shy at all. In fact, I was the one being shy and bothered. He didn't tell me where he had come from and I didn't dare to ask. Instead, he asked me questions after questions.  
I'm still not sure if it was just a pure coincidence or had the teacher set it all up, but when we were walking back to the chemistry lab, the boy suddenly, completely out of nowhere, told me that he was my new roommate. _

_"I just threw my things into the room and only now did I realize that you must be the same Lee Donghae as my roommate." He said. I needed to stop and stare at him. He looked at me, telling me I had my mouth all open, before he laughed a little._

_"I didn't know I'd get a roommate." Was all I could say before he started walking again, leaving me standing on where I was.  
And yes, at first he didn't even tell his name. I didn't know who he was when I showed him the school. I realized that only in the evening when I was laying on my bed, staring at the ceiling._

 

No, I'm not going to tell you our whole history. But that's how it started, at school like most of the teenage romances. We weren't any different from other couples, although we were a gay couple which wasn't all that common at the time.

We've been married for 7 years now… We got married when I was only 18. It all went 'normally', so to say. We had our fights like every other married couple but we still loved each other. We had our daily routines, our sex life was great, I finished school with good grades and Hyukjae dropped school to get a job as a dance teacher in a small dance school. After I finished school I also found a job as a photographer. Like I said, everything was normal.

At least until the day everything changed.

 

I went to work at 8am, like usually. I had left Hyukjae to bed since his work started after midday and I had written him a note telling I had made him some breakfast. He had always been lazy in the kitchen. 

After 2pm or so, I started to feel sick for a reason I didn't know. It didn't take long for me to feel nausea and run to the toilet. 

"Are you OK?" Asked my partner's, and one of my closest friend’s, voice. Sungmin was standing behind me as I was crouched over the toilet seat, emptying my stomach. "Do you want me to get you a glass of water?" He asked when I had emptied my lunch into the toilet and was panting harshly. The feeling of my stomach cramping and the burn in my throat made me feel even worse and I couldn't answer him.

He brought me a glass of water in a moment. As I drank, he ordered me to call our boss telling I was sick and going home. 

I really wouldn't have wanted to since we were taking photos for Vogue and I definitely didn't want to miss it.

"But Sungmin –"

"No buts. If you don't call, I'll call for you."

And that's how I had to call our boss and then go home. I groaned as Sungmin pushed me into my car without paying any attention to my pleads. I really didn’t want to miss the shootings for Vogue since they always paid well to the photographers. And I was desperate to earn that money. I had dreamed of taking Hyukjae out to eat even though there was no particular reason behind it.

I drove in a haze. The nausea was getting stronger again and I practically flew out of the car, only to throw up onto the ground right next to it. I made a face as almost nothing came out but the acids from my stomach burned in my throat. I wiped my mouth on the sleeve of my jacket before locking the car and dragging my feet towards the front door of the apartment building. I nodded my greetings to an elderly lady living right below us and she smiled warmly at me before returning her gaze to the news paper she was reading. The elevator made a clinging sound before the doors opened and I pushed myself in.

On the fourth floor the doors opened again and I slowly made my way towards the door at the end of the hallway. I struggled to find my keys and eventually I managed to open the door. I kicked off my shoes, dropped my bag on the floor and threw my jacket right on top of it. I knew Hyukjae wouldn’t like it but I couldn’t care less. All I cared for right now was the warm bed and sleep.

I fell on the unmade bed and curled up under the covers. A sigh of relief left my open mouth as I felt my nausea fade ever so slightly but even that was enough for me. 

And then I fell asleep. 

 

I woke up as the front door opened and closed. I groaned and tried to turn away from the light coming through the open door but as I did so, I felt my stomach clench. I remained still as I didn’t really feel like jumping off the bed and running to the toilet. 

“Donghae?” I heard Hyukjae’s concerned voice calling me. I tried to voice out my presence to him but my voice was hoarse from sleep and I only managed to get out a small groan. Fortunately it was enough for him to hear and soon he was sitting on the bed next to me, petting my back.

“What is it?” He asked as he took off his shoes. I wondered how horrible my sound had been as he hadn’t even taken off his shoes before rushing in. 

“I’ve thrown up twice today.” I whispered and closed my eyes. His soft hand kept on rubbing soothing circles on my back and I tried my best on concentrating only to the warmth his presence brought me.

“How’re you feeling now?” 

“I’m okay.” I answered him with a reassuring smile. “I’m just tired.” I added.

“I’ll get you a glass of water and let you sleep some more, okay?” He asked and gave me a kiss on my forehead. I nodded slightly as I felt the weight of his body leave the bed. I never heard him as he came back with the glass of water and a painkiller as I had already fallen asleep.

 

I knew something wasn’t right as I woke up. It was completely dark in the apartment so I figured it was sometime after midnight already. But what concerned me was the missing warmth that should’ve been next to me. I turned my head only to confirm that Eunhyuk wasn’t sleeping next to me.

Slowly I moved to lie on my back, all the time trying to find any sings of nausea. When my body felt okay with me moving, I pushed myself into a sitting position. By the time I got myself on my feet my eyes had adjusted to the darkness.

I pushed my feet into the slippers that Hyukjae must’ve brought me and shuffled into the living room. I didn’t turn on the lights as I could clearly see no signs of my husband and made my way towards the kitchen. After being the whole day without eating, my stomach was growling loudly. I opened the fridge and found a readymade sandwich waiting for me. I smiled at the generosity of my husband. He always took care of me whenever I was sick.

With a smile I sat on the kitchen table to eat the sandwich. As I finished it, I walked to where I had dropped my jacket on the floor. I had left my phone to the pocket and I needed to call Hyukjae to ask where he was. It was normal for him to go have some fun on Fridays but he always left a note of it on the kitchen table if he didn’t tell it to me directly. But this time there were no notes whatsoever and thus I hoped to see a text message from him. But there was none. 

I typed in the pass word to gain access to my phone, typed in Hyukjae’s number and hit ‘call’. 

“The person you are calling, cannot be reached.” said the robotic voice into my ear. I sighed and ended the call, not bothering to leave a voice mail. Even though worry started creeping into my mind, I tried my best to push it away. Hyukjae would be here by the morning, giving me a good morning kiss. We’d both have a day off and have fun together. 

With those thoughts I walked back to the bedroom and fell asleep. 

 

“But you don’t understand!” I screamed into the phone. “He’s never gone missing without informing me anything!”

“I understand your worry, mister Lee. But there’s nothing we can do before he’s been missing for 48 hours.” Said the male voice of a police officer on the other end of the line. 

I was absolutely furious. “Just... fuck you! I’ll do the job of the police by myself!” I yelled and ended the call. Sometimes I wished I still had the old fashioned phone where you could really hang up by smashing the handset of the phone down. Now I had to just swipe the red button of the iPhone. Stupid technology!

“Fine, I’ll find him alone…” I muttered angrily. I snatched my jacket from the hanger, grimacing at the memory of myself dropping it on the floor. Hyukjae had placed it neatly on the hanger and put my shoes right below it. I found my keys from the small table next to the door and stormed out of the apartment.

I drove around the town, searching from all the possible places that I thought Hyukjae could be. I visited all our mutual friends and when none of them had seen him, I asked them to call me immediately if they saw or heard of him. 

When the night fell and the streetlights were turned on, I was shaking in anger and worry. No one had seen or heard of Hyukjae. He hadn’t been to the grocery store where we always went, he hadn’t been to the bar where we always went to have some fun together and it seemed like no one had seen him after he left work yesterday.

Tiredly I rubbed my eyes as I slumped on the couch. The anger towards the police was fading but the worry was quickly taking its place. During the day I had also been angry at Hyukjae for causing me to suffer this way but it had subsided already. 

I looked at the clock on the wall next to our wedding photo hanging on the wall in front of me. Tears began to burn in my eyes as I saw both of us smiling in the photo taken in a beautiful garden full of cherry trees in blossom. It had been a sunny day with no clouds in the sky. The weddings had been small, with only a few friends taking part to our happiness. Neither of our parents had attended the wedding. The day before that had been the last time I saw my parents.

 

_I stepped into the house with confused and mixed feelings. Tomorrow would be my big day and I was extremely happy and excited over it. But my parents weren’t sharing my happiness. I knew they had had hard time to accept me being gay and now that I was getting married with a man they had even more difficulties to understand me._

_“Mom, dad, it’s me!” I told them as I took off my shoes and walked further into the house. I found both of them from the living room. They were standing side to side, my father holding my mother’s hand tightly. I swallowed hard as I saw the tears in my mother’s eyes. Deep inside I knew I wouldn’t be leaving this house without tears._

_“What’s going on?” I asked warily._

_“Donghae-ah…” My mother begun but was cut off by my father._

_“You better sit down.” I turned my eyes from my mother to him as I stiffly moved to the couch and sat down. I tried my best on masking my own feelings. I didn’t want to look weak in my father’s eyes who already thought I was worth nothing. He had always had high hopes for me but they were shattered as I revealed my sexuality to them._

_“What is it?” I asked again, thanking for god that my voice didn’t crack._

_“We won’t be there for your wedding.” My father spat coldly, putting a nasty weight on the last word. As if the whole image of me getting married with Hyukjae would make him feel sick. “In the matter of fact, I don’t see any reason for us to attend the wedding.”_

_I was confused and this time I couldn’t hide it from my face. He noticed this and continued speaking with his cold eyes clued to mine. “You are no longer part of this family. I despise you!” He growled. My mother broke down into a hysterical cry and ripped her hand from her husband’s before running past us to their bedroom. The door slammed shut and stopped me from getting up and running after her._

_“Get lost.” Those were the last words I ever heard him say to me as I gave him one last look before running away from the house that I had always called home._

 

The memories of my parents made the tears to finally fall down on my cheeks. That had been the last time I’d seen them. It had also been the last day I even spoke to them. And now that I’d really need my mother’s reassuring words of everything turning to be alright, I couldn’t bring myself to do anything. I had often though of calling my parents but then I recalled my father’s words and the idea of a phone call died instantly.

The only person I could call right now was Sungmin. He was the closest friend we both shared and he was my best friend right after Hyukjae.

“Did you find him?” Sungmin said immediately as he picked up the call. I swallowed loudly and tried to keep the shakiness from my voice as I spoke.

“No… I don’t think he’s in town…” 

“Oh, Hae…” Sungmin said. I knew he had heard my worry and tears in my words even though my voice hadn’t cracked the slightest bit.

“Can you come over?” I asked him. “I can’t stand being here alone but I don’t want to leave if he comes back.”

“Err… I need to see what Kyuhyun thinks…” Sungmin muttered. There was a silence as Sungmin probably turned to ask Kyuhyun but he didn’t mute the mick properly as I could hear a moan on the background. I had to take the phone off my ear as I didn’t want to know more of what was going on in Sungmin’s apartment. It was enough for me to hear Kyuhyun’s moan of pleasure to know what I had interrupted with my call.

“Donghae, are you still there?” I heard Sungmin ask on the phone. I brought it back close to my ear and spoke before he could continue.

“Never mind, Min. I can handle myself.” I said and paused for a short moment. “And besides, you have more important things to take care of at the moment.” I tried to sound happy for him although I knew it was a lame try.

“Are you sure?” He asked and I heard how he was at the same time relieved and sorry. I told him not to worry about me before hanging up. I didn’t want to bother him when he was having a time with his boyfriend.

In frustration, I threw my iPhone through the room. It hit the wall, missing the TV just by a few sent meters. I groaned hopelessly and buried my head to my hands while resting my elbows on my knees. The whole situation was new to me and I had no idea of what I should do and how to react. 

The night was starting to turn to day before I decided to go to sleep. Still, after staying awake throughout the night, it took me ages to fall asleep. The sun had started to lighten the room before my mind went blank.  



	2. Pain

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter contains a graphic rape scene. The rating for this chapter is E.

#### Warning: graphic rape and violence

The weekend passed by without me even realizing it. Hyukjae hadn’t come home, no one had seen him and his phone was still turned off. There were no signs of him.

The police had started to look for him now that he had been lost for the 48 hours but they had also come up with nothing. It only made me to lose all the last bits of hope that I had been trying to hold on to.

Sungmin had paid him a visit when I didn’t come to work on Tuesday. He brought me food and a movie that he insisted to watch. I gave up to him and accepted his attempt of taking my thoughts away from my missing husband. But I couldn’t ignore the sorrow and sympathetic look in Sungmin’s eyes as he kept an eye on me all the time. 

“Donghae, have you eaten anything in these four days that he’s been missing?” He asked suddenly. I stopped slurping the tea he had made for me and lifted my tired eyes to him.

“Of course I have…” I quickly told him. I hoped he’d drop the subject after seeing that I wasn’t interested in speaking about it.

“Lee Donghae, you need to eat.” Sungmin told but even though his tone was harsh, the look in his eyes was the complete opposite. “Starving yourself won’t bring Hyukjae back.”

“I know…” I sighed. “I’m just tired.” 

“I know you are.” Sungmin reassured. He moved closer to me and paused the movie. He pulled me closer to his body, collecting me into his arms just as I broke to tears.

“I miss him…” I whispered through the tears running freely from my eyes, soaking the front of Sungmin’s shirt. “Why won’t he come home?” I knew I sounded pathetic but I didn’t care. I hadn’t been able to bring my feelings out to anyone and now that Sungmin was kindly offering support to me, I was more that glad to accept it.

“He will come.” Sungmin whispered. Although I knew he couldn’t be sure of the words he just spoke, I nodded. “He will come back to you. He hasn’t abandoned you.” My cried grew louder as Sungmin spoke and tried to shush me while rocking me in his arms.

“We just need to wait.” Sungmin added after I calmed down a bit. “And you need to continue your life. It doesn’t mean you’ve given up, but you cannot continue being like this.” He quickly told me as I looked at him with my bloodshot eyes. 

“Do you understand what I’m saying?” He asked and cupped my head with his hands. He made sure I looked him in the eyes as I nodded slowly. 

“I need to go to bathroom…” I said quietly and pulled back from Sungmin’s arms. He gave me a worried look but I ignored him and walked to the bathroom, closing the door behind me. I didn’t turn on the lights, just sat down on the closed toilet seat. My mind was so messed up right now…

I don’t know how long I sat in the darkness. I just sat there, staring ahead without seeing anything. I distantly registered Sungmin speaking on the phone in the living room but I never paid much attention on what he was saying. 

But then my own phone rang.

I bolted up from the toilet seat, unlocked the door and ran to the living room to find my phone. It was still on the floor where it had fallen after I threw it to the wall. 

And sure enough, it was Hyukjae’s picture on the screen of my phone, his name flashing in front of my eyes as the song I had picked for his ring tone filled my ears.

I didn’t hesitate one moment to pick up the phone and answer the call.

“Hyukjae?!” I cried out with tears filling my eyes again.

“Donghae-ah…” I heard his familiar voice whisper into my ear. My knees gave in and I fell on the floor with tears spilling from my closed eyes. I could feel Sungmin’s hand on my shoulder to comfort and support me.

“Where are you? Are you alright? Are you hurt?” The questions escaped my lips and I felt my whole body shake.

“Hae… Don’t cry.” His voice spoke again. Something was off with the way he spoke – only short sentences, voice hushed and emotionless. 

“Hyukjae?” I asked silently with fear creeping into my own voice. “Hyuk, what is it?”

“Are you alone, Donghae?” Hyukjae whispered suddenly. But before I could get over my surprise at the question, he spoke again. “Tell Sungmin to leave. I’ll be there right after he’s left.”

And then the line went dead. I stared at the black screen of my phone in disbelief. 

“Well?” I heard Sungmin asking me. I didn’t know how to explain him the odd phone conversation I had with Hyukjae just a moment ago. 

“You need to leave…” I said with a sudden outburst of adrenaline. Hyukjae was here, close. He was back at home soon. And in order to get him back I had to get Sungmin to leave.

“What?” He was completely taken aback. “Donghae, care to explain what just happened?” He asked as I started shoving him towards the front door. I opened it ready for him and pushed his jacket into his arms.

“I don’t know!” I yelled at him in frustration. “He wanted me to be alone or he wouldn’t come!” 

“Donghae!” Sungmin yelped as I gave him a hard push, sending him backwards into the hallway. He fell onto his back with a cry of pain but all I had in mind was Hyukjae and how he’d be back to me at any moment. So I gave him an apologetic look before throwing his shoes to the hallway and closing the door. I waited by the door for a moment to make sure Sungmin left before releasing the air I noticed I had been holding in.

I walked into the living room but I couldn’t bring myself to be still. My mind was racing and my body seemed to have a will of its own.

And then I heard a key to be put into the lock and the door opened. I jumped up from the couch that I had just sat on and ran to the door. 

But the man coming into the apartment wasn’t my husband, I saw that immediately. He was wearing his clothes, had his voice and hair, had his appearance, but it wasn’t my Hyukjae. I froze on my feet.

“Donghae-ah.” The man smiled at me. My mind was screaming something at me but I couldn’t hear what it was as the male walked closer to me. There was something about him that made my entire body go to goose bumps. 

He stopped to stand right in front of me and reached his hand towards my face. His fingers touched my cheek softly and I could feel my body reacting to it by leaning into the touch. My eyes slid shut as he caressed my skin.

“I missed you, Donghae.” he spoke softly but as I opened my eyes, I saw an unfamiliar glint in his eyes. Before I had time to do anything, he had a hold of my hand and he turned and twisted it so that I had to turn my back to him in order to save myself from the pain.

“Who are you?” I gasped and earned him to pull my hand even more, sending a jolt of pain go through my body. 

“I’m your beloved husband, of course.” 

“N-no…” I whimpered in pain as he made me to move my feet. He walked us into the bedroom where he violently threw me on the bed. My head bumped painfully to the wall and I let out a pained cry.

“Aren’t you happy to see me again?” The man spoke. I turned my head as little as needed to see him standing at the end of the bed.

“You aren’t my husband.” I groaned, ignoring the furious look in the man’s eyes. My mind was telling me to stop angering him any further but I didn’t stop. “You aren’t Hyukjae!” I yelled at him. 

He was fast to move. In a blink of an eye, he had me pinned on the bed with my face buried to the pillows. He had his knee pressed on the small of my back, whereas one of his hands was on my hair and the other one holding both of my hands behind my back.

He yanked my head up painfully and blew hot breath on my ear as he spoke. “Why are you like this, Donghae-ah?” He pulled my head further up, twisting my neck into a painful angle and attacked my neck with his mouth. 

He nibbled and bit my sensitive skin as I tried to fight free from his grip. It resulted me nothing more than another painful yank on my hair. I cried out in pain and fear as he sank his teeth into my skin. I knew he broke it by the sting it caused.

The hand holding my head up let go and a small sigh of relief slipped from my mouth before I could stop it. He noticed this and a dark chuckle could be heard in the room. My small relief was soon flushed away as I felt him tying my hands. I tried to break free without a success. 

His knee was still on my back, pressing painfully to make sure I couldn’t struggle. I turned my head to see what he was doing to see him staring almost hungrily at me. I saw how his hands reached for the t-shirt I was wearing and I felt how his fingers curled around the fabric before he ripped it into two. I gasped as my back was now bare and his eyes roamed through my exposed skin.

The next move he made was to rip my sweatpants off my legs, followed by the pair of boxers underneath them. My body was now completely naked. He took his knee off my back but the look in his eyes told me enough. I knew it would do me no good to move.

“I missed your body, Donghae.” He whispered into my ear. A single tear escaped my eyes as I felt his hands roam on my body. He paid a lot of attention on my butt cheeks as he massaged them. I felt him spit on the crack between my cheeks and soon a slick finger followed the line from my balls up to the hole. 

I whimpered and pleaded for him to stop but his answer to me was a hard slap on both of my butt cheeks. 

“Shh…” He hushed me with a voice I had never heard before. It was much lower than Hyukjae’s own voice and sounded more surreal than any person’s voice I had ever heard. “I just want to enjoy your beautiful body just like I have done for the past eight years.”

Tears started to fall from my eyes as I felt his tongue touch my hole. His hands were pinning me on the bed, preventing me from moving. I was helplessly crying for him to stop but it was worthless.

His tongue thrust into me and roamed around, tasting me. I felt my eyes start to get tired with all the crying and soon enough I was only sobbing as I had used up all the tears.

I moaned in pain as he pulled back from licking only to shove two dry fingers into me. The drag was horrible and the stretch more painful than it had been in ages. He added a third finger before my body had time to adjust to the feeling of being filled so much and so suddenly.

He seemed to decide it was enough of stretching as he pulled his fingers away. I knew what was coming next but I found myself crying out in agony as something much, much wider and longer than Hyukjae’s cock was pushed into me. The burn was more than I could handle and as I gathered all my strength to take a look at what the man had put into me, my mind went black.

The man had pushed his whole hand into me, and I could see his amused grin before he moved his fist and the pain clouded my mind. I felt my consciousness slip away.

When I opened my eyes, I could feel him on top of me. He had move my hands from behind my back and they weren’t tied anymore. But he hadn’t stopped assaulting my body. He had his cock in me, fucking me with a shallow phase.

He noticed that I was awake and for a moment I waited for him to go faster on me. But he didn’t.

Instead, he stopped moving his hips and leaned closer to my face. With a strange look in his eyes, he slipped away from my body, his hard cock making a wet sound as it was pulled out.

I moaned in pain and the empty feeling when his cock was finally out. Fear was the only thing in my comprehension as I stared at his eyes. He didn’t make a move as he was on his hands and knees on top of me with his hands on either side of my body.

“I’m sorry Donghae…” He whispered and I saw how something changed in his eyes. They became more familiar and I heard the familiar tone of Hyukjae’s voice as the man spoke.  


I knew he was Hyukjae. I knew this was the man I had fallen in love with and thrown my own life away for.

“I’m so, so, sorry…” He pressed his head on the back of my shoulder. I stayed frozen on my place, not understanding what was happening. Hyukjae’s body started shaking violently and he let out a loud groan before his head shot up. I could see how the veins in his neck stood out from under his skin. I couldn’t do more than stare at him in horror as the familiarity of his eyes disappeared and the stare that had first been there came to the surface again. 

He took a tight hold of my hair once again, making me hiss in pain and at the same time he thrust his cock back into me. He fucked my hole with a brutal speed, not caring how loudly I cried. 

Fortunately it didn’t take him long to explode into me. I could feel his hot sperm fill me up to the hilt. He panted harshly and collapsed on top of me, still keeping his cock inside me. I stayed still, afraid to move. I couldn’t know how he’d react if I made even one wrong move. 

 

I was sitting on the bed with my back resting on the wall. I still couldn’t bring myself to understand what had happened. My eyes felt numb from all the crying and my backside ached from the abuse. 

I could see Hyukjae’s body next to me. He was fast asleep for now, but I was afraid of getting off the bed. I didn’t want to wake him up as I wasn’t sure what I’d see in his eyes.

My head became even more messed up as I tried to think of how much Hyukjae had changed. First he was this…monster… and then he had changed back to himself for only a few seconds. How could it be possible? What had he been through when he’d been missing? And how could I ever look at him again without fear?


	3. Exposed

I banged my head to the wall behind me as I heard my phone ringing in the living room. I had fallen asleep in the sitting position.

Carefully, I slid off the bed, trying to move as quickly yet as quietly as possible. I didn’t want to wake Hyukjae up by looking like I was trying to sneak away. Fortunately he didn’t stir and I ran to the phone. It was Sungmin.

“Hi…” I whispered, frantically looking at the bedroom door that I had silently closed behind myself. I seriously didn't want him to wake up. Not now that I was on the phone. I couldn't be sure of how he'd react if he saw me speaking to someone, thinking that I was telling about what had happend last night

“Hi Donghae!!” Sungmin answered but paused. “Why are you whispering?” He asked warily.

“He’s sleeping…” I muttered quietly. “I’ll call you later, okay?” 

I hoped Sungmin would take the hint and let it all be, but of course he didn’t. He had always been the one wanting to know every detail about everything and everyone. 

“Donghae?” his voice sounded more like a warning than a question. “What’s going on?”

“I told you that I’d–“ I gasped as my phone was snatched away from my hand. I spun around only to see Hyukjae standing behind me, glaring at me with his dark eyes.

“He’ll call you later, Sungmin.” He spoke to the phone and then ended the call. I gaped at him without knowing what to do. I was terrified and I couldn’t bring myself to act in any reasonable way. I knew I should probably try and run away but at the same time I felt like I was still attracted to him in a strange way. I couldn’t name the attraction, whether or not it was my old love towards him.

I stared at him with wide eyes but he didn’t do anything. He simply just stared back at me. I felt a silly tingle dancing on my skin but I did nothing to shake it away. His eyes moved on my body and I could feel the hot look roaming on my naked skin. 

“What are you thinking, Donghae?” He suddenly asked with a tender voice but I didn’t miss the sharp edge that he had in his words.

I shuddered as he took a step forward, bringing his own naked body in contact with mine. He moved his hand to touch my cheek. I felt sick as I saw his hand. There was dried blood on his skin, which I knew to be mine. Memories of him assaulting my body rushed through my mind and I felt like throwing up.

And then he let his hand fall. I was amazed by his act as he walked to the couch and sat down. He kept his harsh eyes on me all the time but I couldn’t read the emotions that he was hiding behind them.

“I asked you, ‘what are you thinking?’” He repeated his question.

I swallowed the lump in my throat before opening my mouth. “You.” The single word had me shutting my eyes as I tried to keep the tears from falling. “What happened to…you…?” I whispered, letting myself fall on my knees on the floor.

“Nothing happened to me.” He stated sharply. I winced at the voice. It was again that low, unbelievable voice that spoke to me. I opened my eyes to see him standing right in front of me, my nose almost touching his.

“Why?” I whispered, knowing fully well that I shouldn’t say a word. I should try to find a way to escape. But…

“Oh Donghae…!” He suddenly cried out. The familiar voice of his had returned and he fell on his knees. His familiar eyes were looking at me with tears in them. “What have I done?” He whispered with a horrified look in his eyes. 

“Hyuk…” I whimpered. “You scare me!” I yelped as he tried to take a hold of my hand that was hanging on my side. I jumped and ran to the bathroom as fast as I could. I heard him begging me to stop but I couldn’t. I locked the door right after I got into the bathroom and I rested my back on the door. I heard him plead for me to open it, to let him in.

“I’m so sorry, Donghae.” He spoke to the door after a while that felt like an eternity. A silence fell and he stopped trying to get in. I let out a shaky breath as I let my body relax. My head was pounding and felt disgusting and dirty. I turned on the lights and made my way to the shower. I had to wash all the fluids off myself. The warm water soothed my aching muscles and I used more soap than I usually did to scrub all the dirt off my body. As I reached to the backside, I winced at the sharp pain. Hyukjae had never been this hard on me and I hadn’t expected my opening to be so raw. 

As I finished washing myself, I dried my body to a clean towel that had been neatly folded on a shelf. After I had dried myself enough not to get the whole room wet, I started to look for something to sooth the pain in my backside.

A tender knock on the door got me jumping and the fear that I had forgotten for a moment came rushing back. 

“Donghae, please… open the door.” I heard him saying. I held my breath as I stared at the door handle being pressed down. I knew the door was locked but I couldn’t help the fear of Hyukjae being able to open it anyway.

“Donghae, we need to talk…” He pleaded.

“What is there to talk about?” I snapped at him, not able to bite my tongue fast enough. I gulped loudly as I waited for his reaction but he stayed silent.

“Please?” He asked once again. I was weighting the options I had. There was no other way out of the bathroom than the door, which was guarded by Hyukjae. So it meant that I had to get out at some point. I knew I couldn’t escape him now that I had locked myself in here. 

I sighed deeply before taking the few steps needed to cross the small bathroom. I stopped with my hand on the handle, trying to hear if Hyukjae was standing right next to the door. I couldn’t hear him but I was pretty sure he’d be there when I opened the door.

My haunch had been correct. The moment I cracked the door open I could see Hyukjae’s teary eyes. He had been crying…

I stepped out of the bathroom, taking a better hold of the towel around my lower body. I was amazed how he let me walk to the living room and he stayed by the kitchen door as I sat down on the armrest of the couch.

I felt empty as I studied his face. He was back to his normal self but I didn’t know if it would last. All this had happened too fast. Five days ago I had been happy to see him sit next to me on the bed, trying to help me get over the nausea. But now, he was the one causing it!

“Donghae…” His quiet voice startled me out of my thoughts. He had moved closer to me but still had kept the distance bearable. I figured he knew how horrified I was.

“I know you’re horrified of me.” He spoke. I shuddered at his words. He looked at me closely yet seemed distant. And the way he spoke made me feel like he had just read my mind. “And I have a lot to tell you.” He paused and tilted his head slightly as he watched me. “I just need you to promise me one thing…”

I didn’t answer anything. I was afraid of what he’d ask but eventually I nodded for him to continue.

“Promise me, you won’t run away from me.”

I couldn’t! I couldn’t give him the promise he was asking for.

And he saw it on my face. “Please Donghae, I’m begging you. Don’t force me to keep you here.” There was a warning in his voice and I realized that he wasn’t going to give me any other options.

I said. Suddenly my whole body felt tired and all I wanted to do was to sleep. “Okay… I promise.” I hoped that once I woke up the next time, Hyukjae would be back to normal and all this would be just a bad dream.

“This isn’t a bad dream, Donghae.” Hyukjae mused. A small, warm smile grew on his face.

“What are you?” I hissed. Was he really reading my thoughts or was he just reading me like an open book.

“Don’t freak out now, but yes, I’m reading your thoughts and you like an open book.” He said while studying my reaction. 

“How can you possibly expect me not to freak out?!” I screamed at him while standing up. My fear for him was starting to get mixed up with anger. “Who are you?” I asked through clenched teeth.

“I’m Lee Hyukjae, your husband.” He spoke softly.

“No. You’re not him.” I hissed. “You might look like him, even sound like him, but you’re not him.” I ripped my eyes off of him and tried to look for my phone. I needed to call for help. If I just could get it and run back to the bathroom…

“If I were you, I wouldn’t do it.” Hyukjae told me. My eyes snapped back to him only to see him holding my phone. “Donghae, please. Don’t make this any harder than it already is.”

I opened my mouth only to shut it again. I was running out of ideas of what to do. My body felt heavy and my mind was getting foggy. 

“I can’t…do this…” I muttered and sat back down on the armrest. I let out a heavy breath and watched Hyukjae carefully move towards me. 

“I really need you to calm down, Donghae. I don’t want you to get hurt anymore…” I could barely hear his last words as he passed me and sat on the couch. He motioned the space next to him, asking me to sit next to him.

“Why would I?” I snapped at him. Then a grin spread on my lips as I thought: ‘after all, it was you who hurt me’. I noticed how the pain grew in his eyes and I knew he was really hearing my thoughts. “Get the hell out of my head!”

I was shocked to see him chuckle – it was the sexy chuckle that I had fallen for so many years ago. I felt my heart soften at him just a slight bit. “I wish it as that easy…” 

I was so taken aback by his easiness that I noticed myself sitting next to him on the couch without realizing that I had moved my feet. His face became more serious again, but the soft, almost comforting, look in his eyes didn’t fade. 

I was still unsure of how I should feel about all this but as I stared hard into his eyes, I eventually asked him to explain me everything.

“I don’t really know where to start.” Hyukjae admitted. “I know you’re not going to believe what I’m about to tell you.” He looked at me and I got a strange feeling that he was about to tell me something no one in their right mind would believe.

“Try me.”

He took a deep breath. “You know how I’ve never told you anything about my family. I’ve told you I was an orphan, but that’s not really true…” He let his voice fade and I could see that he could hear the angry thoughts I had running in my mind.

“I know… And I’m sorry for lying to you. But after what I’m about to tell you, you’ll understand.”

I clenched my hands into fists to prevent them from shaking or hitting Hyukjae. 

“My father doesn’t live here. I’ve never known my mother properly as she died when giving birth to my little brother.” He began his story. “I ran away the year I attended the school you went to. It was supposed to work as a safety place before I could afford flying from the country. It was foolish of me to think I could run away from my father just by leaving the country and I understood it just as I had gathered the money I needed. And then I met you in the chemistry class.” He smiled at me.

“You were the best thing that could’ve ever happened to me. Your scent of affection was strong enough to cover my own scent and thus my father didn’t find me. I knew that as long as I stayed with you, I’d be safe, but at the same time I knew the risk I was putting you in.

It’s a tradition that when the father is getting too weak, his powers will be transformed to his offspring. I had hoped that by running away my father wouldn’t be able to transfer them to me but would have to do it to my little brother, who’d willingly take the responsibility that would come along with the powers.  
But unfortunately that didn’t go as I planned.”

I was stunned. “What are you talking about?”

“My father is the one with the powers of evil. You humans would probably call him as the Devil.” He gritted his teeth together. “It is hard for you to believe what I’m saying, but I’m begging you to trust me on this.”

“You-you’re saying that you’re a son of the Devil?” I stuttered in disbelief. 

“I am.” He stated. “And I’m not finished yet.

"My father’s dying, and since I haven’t been by his side, his powers are forced to transform into my body. If I had been there, with him, he would’ve been able to move the power bit by bit into me. And at the same time he could’ve taught me to control them.”

My mouth was gaping wide open.

“But now that I’m here and he’s down there… The powers he has possessed are violently being pushed into me. I know he’s almost dead by now.” He whispered. “Donghae, I cannot control all this power – at least not yet.”

“So is that why you…” I swallowed the rest of the sentence I had been about to say. But he finished it for me.

“…why I left. Yes. I couldn’t stay with you as I lost control of my own body. I couldn’t... can't control myself or what I do.” His eyes hardened as he stared at me and for a moment I feared for him to lose it again. But instead of doing so, he spoke again. 

“I’m not going to tell you what happened while I was away. And I cannot promise you that I can fully control myself, as you noticed last night…” He rubbed his face tiredly. “I’m trying my best and I don’t know what I’d do if I lost it again and hurt you even more…”

“Hyuk…” I muttered. I wasn’t sure whether it was safe to touch him when he was like this. My mind was having an inner battle with itself in order to decide whether or not I’d believe and accept Hyukjae’s words. In a very twisted way it all made sense… the way he treated me last night and the way he changed in mere seconds from the sweet, caring husband into a bloodthirsty beast.

“I’ll try to warn you if that happens again… To give you time to run.” He whispered. Slowly he took his hands from his eyes and I jumped up immediately after seeing his eyes. 

They were glowing!

“Hyuk….!” I gasped. The bright orange eyes were staring at me and I had a bad feeling that he didn’t really see me. “HYUK!” I screamed as he stood up, keeping his eyes on me. He moved like a robot as he reached his hand out to take a hold of me. I tried to run but he was faster than me. He jumped and we both fell on the floor just in front of the bathroom.

It was so close, but Hyukjae didn’t give me a chance to escape. He ripped the towel that had been covering my nude body and roughly turned me around. The glowing eyes were once again roaming on my naked body with the unexplainable hunger in them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading and...
> 
> HAPPY NEW YEAR 2014! ^^


	4. Change

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning: oral sex and sex included in this chapter

Hyukjae didn’t let me leave the apartment in four days. Our fridge had only the light in it, and my stomach was growling. 

“We need to get food.” I told him from the kitchen. As he didn’t answer anything I peeked from behind the corner only to see him lying on his back on the couch. His knees were bent and his hands were covering his face. He had been like that ever since the day he explained me everything.

I shook my head at the sight of him before returning to the kitchen to check if we had any ramen left in the cupboard. A smile grew on my face as I found two packs of noodles and happily started making them for the two of us.

“You could always just order some-“ Hyukjae spoke but his word was cut off by a loud groan. I sighed as I already knew what had caused the groan. He had been having cramps for the past days. At first I had been terrified to see his face twitch in pain and the veins on his neck and head to swell. He had explained me that the cramps were caused by the powers of his father and I shouldn’t worry about them.

But it was getting harder for me to just ignore them as they seemed to be growing more painful every time.

A sudden scream of my own name had me spinning around and running to the living room. Hyukjae had fallen off the couch and I saw him shake. He had curled up as if he was trying to be as small as possible, but the power of the cramp had his body shooting straight. His teeth were gritted tightly together as he tried to take in the power.

And then it stopped. I didn’t know when I had stopped breathing but as Hyukjae let out a small cry of pain, I found the ability to suck in the air again. 

“They’re getting stronger…” I told him without trying to hide my worry. I watched him cough as he tried to stand up, only to fall back down on the couch as his legs gave in. 

“It only means that…” He coughed again. “That my father is getting closer to the end of his life.”

I had totally forgotten the noodles and my hunger as I slowly made my way towards him. I had to be cautious as neither of us could be sure when he’d lose his grip and snap again. I had noticed that whenever he got upset about something, he was at the edge of succumbing to the evil power inside him.

“Hyuk, try not to get upset, but I have to ask…”

“I don’t know!” He answered immediately. 

I stuck my tongue out at him. “Stop getting into my head before I can even ask you!”

“I can’t help it… And I seriously don’t know what’s going to happen when he finally dies!” He yelled at me in frustration. He buried his face into his hands again and I could see his whole body tensing. I knew he was fighting to remain sane but I also knew he had lost the battle as he took off his hands and the bright orange eyes found mine. 

“Hyuk, you don’t need to do this.” I told him firmly. I knew what usually happened when he lost to the powers and even though I didn’t like him losing it, I was glad he didn’t do much to hurt me. In a sick way, I was actually happy that when he lost it, he unloaded some of his energy by sexual means. And when he was done with me, he’d pass out and wake up as himself again.

“But Donghae, my sweet little prince…” He spoke with the low voice that I had become somewhat accustomed already. “Why don’t you just get on your knees on the floor, huh?”

I sighed but tried not to piss him of more. I did as he told me to and sank on my knees on the floor. He sat on the couch and shifted so that he was sitting right in front of me with me between his legs. A smirk played on his lips. 

“Close your pretty lips around me.” He said. Chills went down on my back as I heard the low voice order me. I was pretty sure I was going crazy as I realized I had begun to like the low, bossy voice of this side of my husband.

I opened the front of his jeans and tucked down the material. He wasn’t wearing any underwear, which surprised me. I looked up into his orange eyes only to earn a slap of his open palm on my cheek. I muttered my apology and returned my gaze to his cock. 

I gave him a couple of strokes, waiting for him to get semi-hard before taking him into my mouth. I tried my best to make him feel good and used all my tricks to push him to the edge. None of them seemed to work, though. 

“What’s wrong, Donghae-ah?” He asked while yanking my head off him with force. I winced at the harsh tuck but forced my eyes to stay open. His orange eyes were mocking me and a tremor went through me. 

“N-nothing…” I managed to answer him. His tongue slid out and I found myself following it as he licked his lips.

“Don’t lie to me, Donghae.” He growled, sounding almost animalistic. “Or do you want me to punish you?” He asked with a sly grin. I didn’t need to use any words as he easily read my thoughts. “Of course you don’t. But your own need is bothering you, now isn’t it?” 

I felt my cheeks burn at his question. There was no point of denying it – I did want him. My body was quivering in anticipation as he lowered his head towards mine. My eyes fluttered shut and I felt his lips on mine. I moved to kiss him properly and my excitement only grew as I felt him answer to the kiss with passion. 

I was too lost in the kiss to notice the change in his temper and he soon grew tired with the kiss. He suddenly threw me away and before I could catch myself from falling, I crashed on the coffee table. It shattered under my weight. Fear for myself exploded in my mind as I heard the loud crash of the glass hitting the floor. The table had been partly made of glass and now I felt the sharp edges of the fragments slide through the fabric of my shirt into my back.

I cried out in pain but my mouth was soon covered by Hyukjae’s hand. His orange eyes were curiously watching me as he picked me up.

“My…” He was about to say something but then chose not to, leaving the word to hung in the air. Carefully he picked me up and carried me to the bedroom. The fear in me only grew as I saw the orange eyes. 

“Hyuk, I-“ I tried to tell him I was worried but he didn’t let me as he dropped me on the bed, face first. I groaned as my face hit the covers but I knew better than to try and move. In addition to Hyukjae not being able to control himself, I had pieces of glass on my back that hurt like hell and I didn’t want them to cut any deeper into my skin.

“You’re such a slut, you know that?” I heard Hyukjae speak. He laughed at himself before removing my pants. All this time he was being careful not to touch my back, which confused me. Why would he be careful not to hurt me now that he couldn’t control the evil inside him? He never touched my back as he eased himself into me, nor did he touch the glass after he was done.

I felt tired all over as he finally finished himself into me. I was glad he fell onto the space next to me instead of slumping over my body. I knew I should go and try to remove the glass from my back but my whole body seemed to weight too much for me to move it.

 

I woke up the next morning and found the bed to be empty. Hyukjae wasn’t in the room, which was odd since I usually woke before him. Sex seemed to drain his energy pretty well and thus he often slept over 16 hours, which gave me some time alone. But now that he was awake, I didn’t have the opportunity to clear my head in peace. 

“So you’re awake…” I heard him mutter and turned my head to the door. He was leaning on the door frame with his hands crossed over his bare chest. I was about to turn on my side to see him properly when he ordered me to stay still. “I’ll get the disinfectant from the toilet and remove the glass from your back.” 

I rolled my eyes at his order but I didn’t defy it and waited for him to return. He was soon there, sitting on my legs. He had brought a bow where he dropped the pieces as he removed them from my skin. I hissed in pain every time he pulled one out.

“I want you to stay away from me for the day. Go to Sungmin.” He said bluntly as he finished disinfecting the wounds. I turned my head to look at him but before I could voice out my protest, he put some more weight on my shoulder, making me gasp for air. “Don’t.” He said. “Just don’t argue with me now. I’m not sure if I can handle it.”

I heard the pain in his voice as he spoke and I could only nod in understanding. “I’ll call him to see if I can go there.”

He took off his hand and stood up. I turned on my side, careful with the wounds on my back, and gave him a worried look. His eyes flashed orange for a second, but I reassured him that I wasn’t going to argue with him. He calmed down immediately.

“But I do need to ask you one thing. Please, let me say it!” I spoke as I knew he’d know my thoughts already. “How can I be sure you don’t go out to find someone else if I’m not here when you lose it?”

“You don’t. And neither do I.” He answered.

“But you have gained more control over it.” I told him quickly. “You didn’t touch me and the glass in my back.” I explained. He looked confused for a moment before smiling slightly.

“No, Donghae. That only means that my other side loves you just as much as I do.”

 

I blew out the air from my lungs before pressing the buttom of the buzzer with the number of Sungmin's apartment written on it. I waited for Sungmin to let me in and practically flew up the stairs. The door of his small apartment was ajar and I rushed in, closing the door right behind myself.

“Donghae!” Sungmin yelled from the main area of the apartment. It was designed for one person only and I had always been amazed how he and Kyuhyun could live in such a small place. 

Before I had time to take off my shoes my friend was hugging me from behind, telling me just how worried he had been. I grimaced at the pain his hug caused me and he didn’t fail to notice it.

“What’s wrong? Did I hurt you?” he asked with wide eyes. 

“It’s nothing. Just…don’t touch my back, alright?” I gave him a small smile and returned to take off the shoes. He gave me a confused look but let the topic be. Or at least that’s what I thought. 

He proved me to be wrong as he let me walk before him to the main area. And then he attacked my shirt, lifting it up and exposing my torn back to his eyes.

“What the hell happened to you?!” He yelled and made me spin around. 

“I fell.” It wasn’t a lie, really. I did fall, but the reason behind it was to remain secret.

“You fell?” Sungmin repeated. “On that?” 

“The coffee table in our living room…” I trailed off as I hear someone walking towards us. I was expecting to see Kyuhyun but was surprised to see an older male leaning on the wall.

“Heechul-hyung!” I smiled happily at him and bounced to give him a hug. He was hesitant to wrap his arms around me and I figured he had also seen my back as I had turned to Sungmin.

“I haven’t seen you in ages, Fishy.” He smiled warmly. The last time we met was a few years ago before he went to army. As I took a closer look to him, I noticed how much he had changed. 

“You look old!” I exclaimed playfully and he grinned. 

“The benefits of the army: people take me a lot more seriously nowadays!”

“I’m sorry for them.” I laughed. Sungmin was the only one of us staying serious. Heechul was the first one to notice this and soon he also became more serious. “What?” I asked as I noticed the change of the atmosphere.

“You look horrible, Donghae.” Sungmin voiced out. Heechul nodded at the comment, agreeing with Sungmin. 

I looked at them in disbelief. “Well, thank you.” I said sarcastically. 

“Donghae…” Sungmin started but I waved him off with my hand.

“I’m okay.” I told them and walked past Heechul who gave me an apologetic look. It wasn’t really his style to show his concern but I didn’t want to stick with it. It only made me feel worse. I knew I looked like a walking ghost since I hadn’t really eaten much in the past days and Hyukjae had abused my body daily, if not twice a day.

“How are you feeling?” Heechul asked me.

“I’m okay now that he’s back.” I admitted although I tried hard not to show that there was something bothering me. There was no way I could’ve told them about what’s really happening to Hyukjae. They would never believe me, thinking I was going crazy. And Hyukjae had made sure I wouldn’t tell them by making me promise him. He knew well enough that I was incapable of breaking my promises to him.

“Then why do you look like you haven’t slept or eaten in a week?” Sungmin pushed. I looked hopelessly at Heechul, who was observing me closely.

“He’ll tell us when he’s ready.” Heechul suddenly said. I was glad he had understood what I was silently begging from him and Sungmin stopped his questioning, for now.

 

It was rather exhausting to be with Sungmin and Heechul. They both tried not to question me but I could feel their curious yet concerned looks on me time after time. I knew they wanted me to tell everything, but I can’t do that and it ate me alive. I couldn’t tell my closest friend anything that had happened and I understood why Sungmin was hurt…

I sighed as I rolled the key on the lock and opened the door. I slipped in and was about to inform Hyukjae that I had come home when a scream cut through the air. The scream was louder and sounded more painful than those I had heard earlier this week.

I didn’t hesitate to run towards the sound. I found him from the bathroom. The room was dark but I could see Hyukjae’s form, grouched on the floor. But his second scream that left his lips wasn’t the thing that startled me.

His body was glowing. The bright glow was illuminating the whole room so I could see everything clearly as I stepped into the room. Hyukjae’s face wasn’t towards me, but I knew it was his skin that was glowing as the light was brighter on his bare back than what it was on his legs that were covered by his jeans.

“Hyuk” I hoped he didn’t get too startled about my presence. “Hyuk, it’s me.”

“Go. Away…” I heard him pant. There was a nasty sound of something breaking and suddenly Hyukjae’s body crashed on the ground. He groaned loudly in pain and as he rolled onto his back, I could see that his arm was twisted in a way that I shouldn’t have been.

The powers rushing into him were breaking his body! I stared at him in utter horror as I couldn’t do anything else. I felt useless as I couldn’t help him in any way. I wished I could’ve even made him smile, to feel better, but even that was now impossible.

His eyes had been squished shut because of the pain but as he opened them to check if I was still there, I had to take a step back. I had become used to the bright orange color of his eyes but now it was different. His eyes weren’t just a bright shade of orange but they were living. Different shades of orange, red and yellow danced in his eyes and I was actually fascinated by it. 

“Leave, Donghae.” He pleaded and at the same time his eyes flashed back to normal. There was a thin sheen of sweat on his body as he tried to control all the power but when another rush of power hit him, he broke into an ear-breaking howl. That’s when I bolted. 

I knew something was wrong when I could easily run out of the bathroom without him stopping me. Hyukjae had fallen silent, no pants or grunts could be hurt from behind the door. I was tempted to open it again and take a look inside. He was being too quiet and I feared for the worst.

But something inside me told me to run for my life.

As I leaned against the bathroom door, trying to hear if he was moving, the door suddenly started to open. It opened to the room I was in and so I was pushed before the door. The power opening the door was incredible and inhuman. 

That was my cue to leave but since the door pushed me towards the living room, I couldn’t run to the door. The only option left for me was the bedroom. A slim chance of surviving but I had to take it. And so I ran to the room and shut the door behind me. 

I needed to latch the door with something but there was only a chair nearby. I moved it closer with my leg and then placed it so that it made it impossible to press the handle down.

“You know that wouldn’t keep me away.”

I froze. The sentence was not coming through the door.

Slowly I turned around to look Hyukjae in the eye. To my own horror, he moved closer to me faster than a human could move. I was unable to do anything as his strong hand covered my mouth and nose, slowly but steadily suffocating me. I found that no matter how hard I ordered my hands to fight him, my body wouldn’t move. My eyes were frantically looking at him as I was scared out of my mind.

Just before I passed out, I could hear someone laughing in the room. I looked at Hyukjae, but it wasn’t him laughing. The laughter seemed to surprise him also as he turned his head away from me.

“Hello, brother.” The unknown voice said. That’s the last thing I heard before I passed out.


	5. Family

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is written in Hyukjae's POV, and is told by Hyukjae's character.

I watched as Donghae’s body went limp in my arms. His eyes closed and a peaceful expression spread on his tense face. I then turned to the person standing behind me and let Donghae's body fall on the floor.

“Kibum…”

The man smiled at me. “It’s been a while.” His white teeth flashed in the glow radiating from my body. “I see you’ve absorbed his energy well…” He then murmured, more to himself than to me.

“He’s dead now, isn’t he?” I asked. I was already quite sure I was right. The amount of energy controlling my body was enormous and I had to fight it harder than before. But it had somehow become easier now that Kibum had showed up.

“He is.” He stated the obvious. 

“Why are you here?” I asked him curiously. I hadn’t seen him in eight years or so and suddenly he just appeared into the bedroom I shared with Donghae. I noticed how I didn't hear his thoughts the way I heard Donghae's and it started to bother me even more when Kibum didn't answer my question right away.

“I came to get you back home.”

“I am at home.” I snarled at him and I felt the anger inside me grow as he shook his head.

“We both know you don’t belong here.” He said firmly. Then he glanced at Donghae’s unconscious body behind my legs. “And neither of us wants you to hurt more human beings.”

I let out a sigh, knowing just how right he was. I hated myself for hurting the person I loved more than I loved myself. Donghae had accepted my brutal behavior after he had gotten over the first shock. But I knew just how much I hurt him. I always saw it in his eyes. And his thoughts were ringing in my head constantly as I didn’t know how to shut them out. 

I turned to gather Donghae into my arms, grimacing as I saw a fade bruise beginning to form on his face. I knew it would be just like my hand as I had held him on his place. I tried not to replay the memory in my eyes as I placed my husband’s limb body on the bed.

“Let him rest. We need to have a word.” Kibum said firmly. I was about to go to the living room but he took a hold of my wrist, stopping me efficiently. “Not here.”

I understood what he meant but it didn’t mean I trusted him. He had always been our father’s favorite, which was also part of the reason I had run away. But being on Earth for this long had its consequences as I couldn’t remember a way of going back. I didn't really like being with my brother because of the past I shared with him but in a way he was making me feel calmer. His presence also made it easier for me to master my powers and I saw the glow of my body fade a little.

“He’ll be alright, Hyukjae.” Kibum told me and I found myself staring at Donghae's sleeping body.

“I’ll leave him a note in case he wakes up before I come back.”

Kibum nodded and let me write the note telling Donghae not to worry about me. I kept the note as short as I could but added the three most important words at the end. _I love you._

Kibum made a face at the note as he read it from behind my shoulder. “You’ve changed.” He stated but I ignored him and walked back to the bedroom. He followed right behind me and watched as I gave Donghae a kiss on his forehead before turning back to my brother. 

“I’m ready.” I said quietly. He nodded and motioned me to take his hand. I did and as soon as our skins touched, I could feel my stomach twitch. I closed my eyes and prepared to the nasty feeling of my body dissolving into the air. 

I opened my eyes as I felt my feet touch the ground. I recognized the place immediately as we were standing on the steps of my childhood home. The mansion made out of black stones was standing right before my eyes.

“Welcome home, brother.” Kibum said quietly as he released my hand and started walking towards the front door. The door opened without anyone opening it and Kibum stopped right before stepping into the grand hall of the mansion. “What are you waiting for?” He asked and raised an eye brow at me.

I hopped up the stairs and gave him a warning look, telling him not to make any jokes, and walked into the hall. The door closed silently behind Kibum. I looked around in the hall but I wasn’t sure whether I should feel happy and comfortable or scared since nothing had changed since I left. There were paintings on the walls, the red carpet leading from the front door to the two doors on my left and right. There were two staircases going to the second floor where there would be two separate hallways leading to the many rooms of the mansion. 

“Wouldn’t it be more comfortable if we moved to the living area?” Kibum asked. I turned around to find him standing by the door on my right. I knew the living area would be right behind that big door and I followed him into the room. It was higher than any other rooms of the mansion and since it looked more majestic than any room I had seen in my life. The furniture was old, older than anything I had seen on Earth. And everything was made of dark wood. The fabrics of the room were scarlet red and there were small details made of gold decorating all the chairs, the couch and the tables.

I sat down on one of the arm chairs, the one I remembered I used to always sit on. Kibum sat on the couch right in front of my eyes. My eyes roam around in the room while I let him study me. Neither of us said anything and I was actually glad for the silence. There was never silent in this house when I was little and finding a place where I could be alone had been really hard.

“You need to get a grip of yourself.” He said suddenly, breaking the silence. I turned to look at him, feeling the fire in my eyes grow. “You need to get your powers under control.”

“Easy for you to say.” I snarled at him. “I never wanted this, I _never_ asked for this. And you know it better than anyone.”

“I do.” He admitted calmly. I had always admired his ability to stay calm, no matter what happened around him. And he seemed to have stayed the same as he didn't show any reactions to my barking. “I know you never wanted this. But you ran away before our father had the chance to explain how running away wouldn’t change anything.”

“If that’s your attempt of calming me down, then you’re doing it wrong.” His words only made me more pissed off. “I read the old books telling about the process of transfering the powers to the offspring. In most of the books it was said that the powers will be given to the son who’s the closest to the one possessing the powers.”

“But you misinterpreted some details.” He told me but as soon as he had said those words he jerked on the couch. “Please, Hyuk. Try to keep yourself in control. Don’t let the anger lead your body.”

“And still you think I know how to do it.” I spat at him.

“I’ll teach you. But first I need you to know why the powers weren’t given to me.” I could see the pain in his eyes. He had always waited for the day to come when he’d gain the powers from out father. I nodded him to carry on. “The son closest to the father is decided by the father himself. It's not about the physical distance but the way the father feels inside. He never felt such affection to me as he did towards you. He was really depressed when he heard you had left.”

I couldn’t believe my ears. My father had never been really close to us as he had enjoyed the peace of his own study. The only times he had played with me were when I was a little boy and Kibum hadn’t been born yet. He had been a happy man who had developed strong feelings to our mother. But it had all ended when she died giving birth to Kibum.

“His last words for me were: ‘Take care of your brother and bring him home.’”

 

Kibum had showed me the notebook our father had given to him. I had read all the notes through twice over the night without sleeping even for a second. I was too eager to get the powers to do as I said and not the other way around. I had grown really tired of having these powers that I couldn’t handle.

“I have a question.” I said out loud as I felt, more than heard, Kibum stepping into the room. I was sitting on the king sized bed of my old room. I looked up from the notebook only to see Kibum slightly shocked by the fact that I had noticed him. “Why is it easier for me to control all this now that I’m here? Your mere presence in my and Donghae’s bedroom made it easier for me to handle myself.”

“I’m not sure, to be honest.” He said and walked to stand closer to me. “I see you’ve started noticing some of the benefits of your powers, huh?”

I laughed at him and waved the notebook in my hands. “This has helped me quite a lot. Now I understand why we were never able to scare him as we played.” With ‘him’ I referred to our father. 

Kibum laughed with me. He seemed to relax a bit and sat down next to me. “There are so many things I’d like to ask you…” He murmured while staring at my hands.

“Concerning what?”

“The Earth. You and Donghae. Everything…”

“You need to be a little bit more specific with what you want to know.” I grinned at him.

“Well, you know… I’ve never been there before as I had to take care of dad.” He moved his eyes to look at me. Before he spoke again, he swallowed with difficulties. “Why are you with Donghae? What’s the reason behind it?”

I stared at him, dumbfounded. “You want to know why I’m with him?”

“Yes. Why him? He’s a male. You cannot have offspring with him…”

“I know. But I haven’t really been thinking of the fact that I should transfer my powers to my son, remember?”

“Oh…yeah.” 

“The humans call it ‘love’. I don’t know what it really is but Donghae is really important to me. I’d never want to be with anyone else.” Then I gave him a wicked smile. “And besides, my body seems to lust for him.”

With his cheeks burning bright red, Kibum turned his eyes from me. “I never thought one could be attracted to males instead of females.” I laughed at him and his face flushed even more. I shook my head in amusement. Kibum was almost a year and half younger than me and yet he was still innocent as a child. I knew he wasn’t lying when he said he had never been on Earth before and thus he hadn’t been able to feel the pleasure that sex could give. 

“It’s still a norm to be attracted to females if you’re a male yourself.” I assured him. “I just seem to be a freak that doesn’t want the great powers of his father and falls for a male after running from home.”

“You need to study controlling your powers.” Kibum said abruptly and stood up. “I’ll be in the study doing some of the businesses our father left unfinished.” He didn’t look behind as he walked towards the door. Before he could leave, though, I asked him a question that had him stopping right on his feet.

“How did you find me?” I looked at him as he slowly turned around. “Our father was never able to find me because of Donghae’s scent and I know it hasn’t changed. He still feels strong attraction to me, ‘love’, and thus his scent is strong enough to cover mine.”

“I followed the power.” Kibum said awkwardly. I didn’t believe him.

“Liar.” I growled and fought back a flinch. My voice had changed yet again. I shut my eyes in order to regain control but it was harder than before.

“Relax Hyuk.” Kibum said but I could hear the wariness in his voice. “I did follow the powers but I also followed the scent of fear.” I opened my eyes at hearing his words. “The scent was coming from Donghae and I knew it had to be because of you since it was stronger than any other fear on Earth. He was really scared of you but at the same time he had really stong feelings to you. The mixture was so unique that I was pretty sure I'd find you if I followed the scent."

I dismissed Kibum, opened the note book again and begun to read the notes through for the third time. My father had made notes to make it easier for me to regain control of my own body but I found them rather useless. No matter how hard I tried to do as he had instructed, I didn’t succeed. 

And it frustrated me!

I hadn’t gotten my own eyes back as they were still glowing orange. Every time I lost my temper, even a slight bit, my body began to glow just like my eyes. It was all freaking me out, which didn’t really help me anyhow.

I slammed the notebook to the floor. I needed to gain control soon so that I’d be able to go back on Earth. I wanted to see Donghae but before that I had to be sure I wouldn’t hurt him anymore.

I felt myself calm as I focused on remembering Donghae – his laughter and smile, his body, his friendliness and his eyes. They were the best features in him and those were the reasons why I possessed such strong feelings for him.

A smile crept to my lips and for the first time in days I felt myself calm down and relax. I felt how the power I possessed subsided from my conscious. I looked up at the mirror and saw how the flames in my eyes faded and the normal color of my eyes returned. 

For the first time in a week, I felt myself relaxing enough for me to fall into a peaceful sleep.

 

“Kibum!” I called for my brother. I couldn’t find him even though I had run through the whole mansion. I couldn’t sense his presence either, which made me worried. I had also become slightly bothered by the fact that I was the only living person down here. When we were little, our father had had plenty of servants running around the house to keep everything working. And now there were no servants, no cooks, no maids. It felt weird to be there all alone.

“Kibum!” I yelled at him again but still there was no answer. I shook my head, making a mental note of telling him not to leave without mentioning it. 

I walked down the hallway on the second floor. I decided to check the library in case I found something useful while waiting for Kibum to return. I had gained some control over the powers, thanks to my father’s notes and Kibum’s help. I knew now that I could smell feelings and emotions. I just needed to learn to differentiate the different smells from each other. I had known earlier that my father could smell if someone was feeling sad or happy but I never knew how it could be possible. But now I knew and I kind of liked it. 

I had also learned to sense other people’s presence. For now it had always been Kibum since he was the only living person here with me. Sooner or later I should go back on Earth where there would be only living people and only then would I really be able to practice my new sense.

At first I hadn’t been able to hear Kibum’s thoughts as he had practiced shutting his mind off me. Our father had helped him to learn this while I had been away and thus he also knew how to help me shut those thoughts away that I didn’t want to hear. It had been really hard at first but now I could handle it pretty well. 

I didn’t have any idea for how long had I been there. The time didn’t change the way it did on Earth. Down here we don’t have days or nights since it’s always kind of dark. There’s fire pretty much everywhere and the sky – if I can even call it a sky – is always pitch black. And there are no stars whatsoever.

The doors leading to the library were right in front of me when I came to a stop. Kibum was back, I could feel it. I walked back to where I had come from and stopped at the end of the staircase. Kibum just walked into the grand hall.

I froze as I realized that he wasn’t alone. 

“What the hell Kibum!?” I yelled at my brother who flinched at hearing my low voice. He turned his head to look up at me with an apologetic look.

“I’m sorry.” He said immediately. It didn’t help my anger though. “But you need to understand. I had to bring him here!” He added. I raised my eyebrow at him yet I stayed quiet and still.

“He should not be here.” I told him coldly. I could smell the terror radiating from the man Kibum had dragged here. 

“But Hyuk-“ Kibum tried to speak to me again. But I had had enough. 

“Shut up and take him back.” I told him and turned my back to them. I was about to leave and storm into my room when Kibum opened his mouth again.

“He was going to kill himself!”


	6. Reunited

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning: graphical sex

I watched around while sitting on the couch of the room that Kibum had said to be the living area. I could clearly understand why Hyukjae had always been so careful when choosing the furniture into our apartment. He had always told me my taste was the worst he could have ever imagined when it came to decorating. And now I certainly understood why.

“Sorry about him…” Kibum murmured and offered me a cup of tea. Or at least I assumed it to be tea. I thanked him with a tiny voice and accepted the cup. I hoped the warm tea would ease my nerves and help me to get over the fear I had towards this whole place.

“I assume you didn’t expect…all this.” Kibum said quietly and sat on one of the arm chairs. I looked up to see him smiling softly at me and shook my head.

“It’s funny…”

“What is?” I asked. 

“How I thought he’d be delighted to hear that I saved your life.” He grinned smugly. I turned my attention back to the cup in my hands. 

After Kibum told Hyukjae I had tried to kill myself, he had given me a look I couldn’t interpret and then stormed out without a warning. I was sure he would’ve banged the doors shut behind him if the doors didn’t work on their own. 

And he still hadn’t come back.

“I’m not proud of what I did.” I muttered quietly and was startled to notice that Kibum had heard me. I hadn't really expected him to be able to understood my mumbled words...

“I know. And if you had known he's alive and well, you wouldn’t have done it.” I nodded at his words and he continued. “You know… I think he hadn’t realized just how long he had been away from you. He’s been away from here for so long that he’s probably forgotten how slow the time goes here.”

I didn’t answer him anything as the door of the room was suddenly pushed open. I turned to see Hyukjae standing by the door. A shudder shook my body as I watched him take a step into the room and shut the door behind him. His eyes were burning bright and his hands were curled into fists.

“Kibum. A word, please.” He snarled angrily. I swallowed at hearing his anger but Kibum didn’t seem to mind at all. He was calm as a stone.

“Shouldn’t you just calm down and have a word with him instead?” He suggested. I stared at him with wide eyes, mesmerized by his ability to stay cool while his brother was close to explode with anger.

“You’re the one who brought him here. And you know the consequences.” Hyukjae told his brother and now I could see Kibum’s body tensing. I didn’t know what was going on, but I had a bad feeling that this wouldn’t end without a fight between the brothers. 

“In the office, now.” Hyukjae told Kibum, turned on his heels and marched out of the room. 

Kibum stared at the door for a few seconds before turning back to me. “Please, stay down stairs. If you need anything, the kitchen is on the left from the stairs.”

I was really tempted to follow the two but I wasn’t sure whether I had it in me. I had to admit that I had almost pissed myself when I had seen Hyukjae and his anger and I sure as hell didn’t want to be his target when his anger explodes.

But the curiosity was taking over my reasonable sense. I couldn’t just sit down here and wait. I needed to know what was really going on since Kibum had told me nothing. And what consequences was Hyukjae talking about?

Yet the most important thing was that I had found Hyukjae. I had again found the reason to continue living. I know it sounds cliché but that’s just how things were.

I slipped my foot in between the closing door, efficiently preventing it from shutting. I peeked to the grand hall only to see Hyukjae dragging Kibum up the stairs. The younger brother was arguing with the older one and fought him. It looked like Hyukjae’s body was glowing in anger.

I shuttered at remembering the horrifying moment when I had seen Hyukjae’s body glow orange. I remembered the way he had looked at me and told me to get away but I had been stupid enough to stay.

I shook those memories out of my head and sneaked into the grand hall. I saw them disappearing behind a corner on the second floor. Keeping my steps quiet I hopped up the stairs just in time to see a door closing at the end of the hallway. 

I swallowed and thought my actions once again. Was I really going to eavesdrop them? And what if I got caught?

A loud crash came through the door and I forgot my insecurity. I crept towards the door and stopped when I was in front of it. There was another crash and Kibum’s angry voice yelling at Hyukjae. I couldn’t differentiate the words he was yelling because of a crash that sounded like a piece of furniture hitting a wall and breaking into pieces. 

And then everything fell quiet. I took a step backwards, away from the door, just in time before it flew open and I saw Hyukjae standing right before my eyes. 

His eyes were still orange and looking harsh but the glow of his skin had subsided. I saw Kibum moving in the room but I couldn’t tear my gaze from Hyukjae. 

“I’ve missed you…” I heard myself telling him. ‘I love you.’

His eyes softened and he moved into the hallway, closing the door behind himself. He leaned his back on the door, resting his head on it, but never taking his eyes from me. He seemed to relax just a slight bit. 

“I know you do.” My heart sank at his words. He must’ve noticed my reaction even though I tried to hide it from him. “Don’t look like that. I love you too.” And then there was that smile I had so longed for to see.

Before I even realized I had moved, I was hugging him tight. He wrapped his arms around me, just like he had used to done. Back then when everything was alright. When everything was like it was supposed to be.

“C’mon, I’ll take you somewhere more private…” Hyukjae murmured into my ear before scooping me up and carrying me bridal style down the hall. I felt tears flowing from my eyes and soaking his shirt but I didn’t care. I had gotten back my Hyukjae, my husband, my lover.

He laid me on the large bed in a dark room that I only assumed to be his own bedroom. I felt his body leave my side only for a while. A light was turned on but it was dim. I turned my head towards it, seeing Hyukjae standing by a desk placed right in front of a large window that was shining in the light.

For the first time in ages I saw his brown eyes looking at me. His face was soft – he almost looked like he did before he went missing…

“How long has it been since I saw you?” Hyukjae asked, his voice being only a whisper.

“Half a year…I think.” 

He was dumbfounded and I clearly saw that. When he didn’t say anything nor did he move, I sat up on the bed. “Hyuk?”

“I never realized it’s been that long…” He muttered to himself. Now it was my turn to look dumbfounded. “Half a year…”

I didn’t do anything as he walked to the bed and sat on it, right next to me. 

“Will you listen to me, if I answer all those questions on your mind?” He smiled warmly at me and didn’t stop me from scolding him for getting into my head again. “I can control it better now that I have practiced with Kibum.” He laughed at me and I just had to smack him on the back of his head. He playfully frowned at me and took a hold of my hands, placing them on my lap.

“Will you listen to me, if I promise not to read your mind?” He asked me and raised his eyebrows as he waited for my answer. I huffed at him but agreed not to interrupt him. He took a deep breath and let go of my hands. He moved so that he could lean on the wall and motioned for me to come closer to him.

“You need to get a smaller bed for us… I’m too lazy to move all the way from here-“ I motioned the spot I was sitting on. “-to there.” And I pointed at him. He laughed at me as I crawled to him. I placed my head on his lap and relaxed when he started playing with my hair. 

“The time is different here than what it is on Earth. It goes much slower.” He began. I nodded to show him I was listening and let my eyelids fall. I enjoyed listening to his voice. “I didn’t realize it’s been half a year since I came here. I never knew I’d left you alone for that long.”

For a moment a silence fell into the room. “I have to take you back. I cannot keep you here, not before I control all my powers and not the other way around.”

“No-Hyuk!” I yelped at his words. I sat up and looked him in the eyes, immediately regretting my fast reaction. His brown eyes were glowing although they weren’t orange.

“Did you already forgot what I told you?” He asked. “You were to be quiet while I speak.”

“I’m sorry… But I cannot stand being alone again.”

“You won’t be. And now you know I’m here and doing alright. I just need to learn everything before I can return back to you.”

I watched as one single tear escaped his eyes. I wiped it away with my thumb and although I wanted to argue him, I knew better not to do that. I didn’t want to anger him now. All I wanted to do was to enjoy this moment I had with him.

“You’re a fool, Donghae, you know that?” Hyukjae suddenly said. “No one in their right mind would want to live with the Devil. The Devil who cannot control himself.” 

“But Hyuk…” I murmured at him. 

“I love you too.” He smiled and leaned in to give a soft kiss on my forehead. I felt my cheeks burn as I snapped at him to stay the hell out of my mind. He laughed at me, telling me how cute I was and pulled me into a kiss.

 

_“Hyuk- Hyuk, stop!” I whispered him and tried my best to look like I was being serious. He smirked down at me and grinded down. I howled as the pleasure of his hips pressing down on mine hit me. “We can’t do this! Not here!” I told him again and tried to push him away._

_But he didn’t buckle. Looking smug he leaned down and sealed his lips on mine, making me whimper in need as his tongue invaded my mouth._

_“Getting impatient, now are we?” He teased me as I tried to seek for some friction on my needy body part. “I need you to stay quiet. We don’t want the whole dorm to know what we’re doing, do we?”_

_I glared at him in annoyance as he sat up on my crotch. His fingers were playing with the line of hair leading from my navel down and disappearing into my boxers. He was still fully clothed, which was unfair, but he had told me not to move my hands from where they were._

_“Take off your shirt at least! It’s unfair when I’m like this and you still have your clothes on.” I told him firmly. The smirk on his face only grew wider at hearing my words._

_“Oh, you mean you actually do want to do this?”_

_“Stop teasing me already!” I snapped at him and disobeyed his order of keeping my hands above my head. I wrapped my fingers around the hem of his t-shirt and tucked at it. He laughed as he slapped my hands away, told me to put them where they had been or else he’d have to tie them up._

_“You better watch.” His voice was husky and made me want him even more. He locked his eyes with me and slowly began to take off the shirt. All the while he was pulling the piece of clothing off himself he moved his hips, making it look like he was dancing._

_I moaned shamelessly because of the movement. He rubbed his hips onto mine and the friction was just so delicious…_

_He stopped his “lap dance” and threw the shirt on the floor. He didn’t give me a chance to object him as he stood up and started pulling my boxers off. I moaned as he purposely dragged them down, putting pressure on my needy, weeping cock. As he finally pulled the offending piece of clothing off me, my cock jumped happily at the freedom._

_“You’re such a horny boy…” Hyukjae murmured while eating me alive with his eyes. I felt my cheeks flush under his watch and I had to fight the temptation to cover myself. “Gorgeous.”_

_I moaned when he wrapped his long fingers around my shaft. He moved his hand slowly up and down on it and all the while looked at my face._

_“Stop looking at me like that…” I groaned at him. I soon noticed I should’ve just kept my mouth shut as he abruptly stood up, walked to his wardrobe and took out a pair of clean socks. He turned back to face me with a grin that promised me no good. “Oh no, you wouldn’t…!” I managed to stutter before he stuffed the socks into my mouth, gagging me quite efficiently._

_“Oh yes, I would. That should keep you quiet for the rest of the time.”_

_I glared at him again but he only grinned down at me. “On your hands and knee, handsome.” He said playfully. He didn’t do a move as he waited for me to do as I was told. I was tempted to take the gag out of my mouth but his knowing look made me obey him without objection._

_Once I was on my hands and knees on his bed, he moved to sit on his knees right behind me. I could feel his heated look on me and I buried my head into the pillows. I was embarrassed as I knew exactly what he was seeing._

_“You’re so sweet I want to taste you.” I shuddered as he blew hot air on my backside. I was anticipated to see what he was up to next and he soon revealed what he had really meant by his words. I felt something wet touch me, sliding down the crack of my ass. My breath hitched as I realized it was his tongue. My moans of pleasure were muffled by the gag in my mouth but his chuckle told me he knew exactly what he was doing._

_“Donghae…” He whispered and pulled back. I whimpered at the loss of his tongue that had just been licking my hole. “Just nod or shake your head… Have you ever done this before?”_

_I froze. We hadn’t talked about sex, ever. And even now it was just a rush of need to release the sexual tension we had had between us for weeks._

_I shook my head, although I would have wanted to tell him that I hadn’t had sex with anyone but I had fingered myself. So I practically knew what to expect. But I didn’t want to defy his orders again._

_“It’s going to hurt.” He said softly. A finger touched me, the tender touch lingering on my hole. He rubbed it slowly, making me moan louder than before. And finally he made me scream as he pushed the dry finger in. There was only his spit easing the drag but the pain wasn’t unbearable. In fact I was enjoying the rough act._

 

“Hyuk, just do me, would you?” I moaned into the pillow. His two long fingers were slowly pumping in and out of me. The dry drag was more than I could handle and I would’ve reached my peak if only he wasn’t squishing the base of my cock. “Hyuk please!” I cried out before shaking at the force of the dry orgasm.

“I’ll take my time.” He said with his sexy voice. My arms were shaking as I tried to keep myself up but eventually I ended up falling on the bed, earning a slap on my ass. I groaned at the sting of the slap. “The better you behave the sooner you’ll get it.” 

A third finger was pushed into me. I bit the pillow to keep myself from screaming. He really did take his time preparing me, stretching me wide with his dry fingers. I was feeling light headed and my cock was starting to get painful. Hyukjae didn’t seem to mind torturing me. In the matter of fact, he enjoyed it just like he had always done. In everyday life we were quite equal but always when it came to sex his natural dominant side stepped out. And I loved it.

Before I knew it, he had pulled his fingers out and I felt the blunt end of his cock being held at my hole. He rubbed it up and down my cleft for a couple of times before steadily pushing into me.

 

“Hyuk, I found something!” Kibum yelled and rammed the door open. I was startled by the sudden outburst and jumped in Hyukjae’s lap. We were sitting on the couch in the living area, in the middle of a make out session…

“You’re such a cock block!” Hyukjae snapped at his brother. He had just been nibbling the sensitive skin of my neck but abandoned me on the couch as he saw the book his brother was waving at him. I groaned as I was thrown on the couch as Hyukjae moved to Kibum in an inhuman speed.


	7. Trouble

“I can’t believe this! Where did you find it?” Hyukjae exclaimed while reading the book Kibum had brought to him. I smiled as I watched him go through the content of the thick book he was holding in his hands. He hadn’t looked that happy and excited since the day he went missing. I wondered how long it had been since that horrible day…

“It was hidden under the mattress of our father’s bed.” Kibum said. They were both smiling widely for a reason I didn’t know.

“What’s so amazing?” I asked curiously. Kibum left Hyukjae’s side and sat on the other one of the arm chairs. His face was almost shining with the happiness. For a moment I thought he’d glow too, just like Hyukjae did whenever he got really mad about something. 

“I might have found a way for him to transfer his powers to me.” He was nothing but smiling.

“Really?” I asked.

“Why aren’t you happy about it, Donghae?” Hyukjae interrupted. My head turned instantly towards his voice. He was looking at me with an expression I couldn’t interpret. His hands were still holding the open book in his hands and his side was facing me. He had only moved his head and stayed still otherwise. He almost looked like one of those Greek statues.

“Why would you say I’m not happy about it?” I asked.

“Because he can smell it.” Kibum told me. “He’s able to sense the other person’s presence and he can smell the emotions of others. You cannot lie to him, Donghae.” 

“And I can still hear your thoughts.” Hyukjae muttered. I had a feeling that he didn’t intend me to hear what he said as both, me and Kibum, reacted to his words.

“Hyukjae!” We both cried out. Kibum fell silent but I couldn’t bite my tongue. “You promised me to leave my thoughts to me alone!”

“I can’t help it if you’re trying to lie to me, Donghae!” Hyukjae yelled back at me. An awkward silence fell into the room. Kibum muttered something about excusing himself from our presence before slipping out of the room. I followed him with my eyes until the door was closed behind him. 

“Why do you want me to be like this?” Hyukjae asked me with a cold tone in his voice. I turned to stare at him, feeling angry at him for reading my thoughts.

“Because…” I didn’t know what I was supposed to say. But he must’ve sensed my insecurity as he closed the book and placed it on a coffee table when walking to the couch. He crouched in front of me and took my hands into his.

“How can it be possible? Are you alright, Donghae?” He asked but I couldn’t bring myself to answer him. “Do you seriously like this side of me?”

I felt something snap in my head. “You should know it! You’re the one reading my thoughts and smelling my feelings!”

“But you’re not denying it, are you?”

“How could I deny it when you know my thoughts better than I do myself…” I murmured angrily at him. His eyes flashed orange but he controlled himself. 

“But how…? How is it possible?” He insisted me.

“How should I know!?” I yelled at him and jumped up. He fell backwards but didn’t stop me from storming out. Kibum was sitting on the stairs and looked surprised to see me running past him and shutting the door of Hyukjae’s bedroom behind me.

I threw myself on the bed and buried my face into the mattresses. I was furious for a reason I wasn’t able to name properly. I was angry at Hyukjae for reading my mind, for keeping it from me that he could fucking smell my feelings… and for being so surprised. He didn’t have the right to go into my head. And he certainly didn’t have the right to question my feelings. 

I felt what I felt and there was nothing I could do to change it.

I figured it was Hyukjae knocking on the door. I turned my head to the door, screaming: “Burn in Hell, Hyukjae!”

“It should be easy…” Kibum’s voice chuckled behind the door. I was really embarrassed as Kibum opened the door and asked for a permission to come in. I didn’t deny it from him and sat up on the bed. 

“I’m sorry…” I apologized.

“Don’t be. He deserved to hear that.” I blushed and mumbled something about not really meaning what I said. He smiled warmly and walked over to the window. It was kind of awkward as this was really the first time we were together since the day he saved me. 

“Can I ask you something personal?” He asked me, all the while watching out of the window.

“Sure, go ahead.”

“What was going on in your mind when you tried to take your own life?”

“Oh… I wasn’t expecting that kinda question…” I admitted. This time he turned to look at me. I was surprised to see him look that serious. For the first time I saw him looking like he was fighting something inside and having troubles keeping himself calm.

“Well…?” He pressured me. “You don’t have to tell me. I cannot read your thoughts.” 

“I didn’t have any reason to keep stay alive. I left everything behind me when we got married and when Hyukjae didn’t come back to me I was left all alone. I couldn’t stand it anymore.” The words just flowed from my mouth. 

“So why are you then making it so hard to be with you?”

“Excuse me?”

“You heard me. He wants to get rid of his powers so that he could be with you again. Do you have any idea how much he’s suffering when trying to cope with them?” I stayed silent and still, which he interpreted to be a suggestion to continue speaking. “You could make it easier for him if you helped him transform the powers to someone else instead of making it even harder for him.”

Suddenly the realization hit me. “You want those powers to yourself, don’t you?” When he didn’t answer me, I knew I was right. 

“Ever since I was a child I wished to be the first one in my father’s heart.” Kibum said quietly. “I knew Hyukjae wouldn’t be able to do this. He’s always been too soft to be the next Devil… Anyway, let’s get to a easier topic. Tell me about Earth.”

All I could do was to stare at him. I had never, ever, in my life seen such a dramatic mood swing from negative to positive. 

“Wow… umm… what do you want to know?”

“Everything. What’s the sky like? I never got to go outside your apartment as I was in a rush… What do you do? What do you feel…?”

“Wait… are you saying you’ve never seen it? You’ve never been there before?” I was amazed. He seemed to know everything about everything. Except that he had never been on Earth. 

“Nope, never.” He looked like a kid who had been promised to get a reward if he behaved himself. 

“I don’t know where to begin with.” I smiled and forgot how much he lusted after the powers Hyukjae possessed. We talked for ages. Kibum wanted to know literally everything about life on Earth. He was also curious about my relationship with Hyukjae.

“How… how do you mate?” He asked curiously.

“Mate? Do you mean having sex?”

“If that’s what you call it…” Kibum muttered. A smile grew on my face as I looked at him. I knew he was younger than Hyukjae and since it seemed to be slightly deserted in here, he had probably never had sex with anyone.

“I think that’s something you need to experience yourself.” I assured him gently. “Here’s what I think: You should go up and live in our apartment for a while. I’ll stay here with Hyukjae but in case you get in trouble, you can always come back and ask for help. That’s the only way you can get to know the world I live in.”

“But hyung needs me here. He cannot learn everything without my guidance.” 

“If he has any troubles with his powers he can always go to you.” His face fell. “What?”

“I have to teach him the way to get out of here. He’s been gone for so long that he cannot remember everything.”

“Then what are we waiting for?” I smiled and jumped up. Kibum followed me as we walked out of the room. We both knew we’d probably find Hyukjae from the study and we didn’t even need to knock on the door as Hyukjae opened it for me.

I had forgotten that I’d been mad at him and he seemed to relax as he noticed I wasn’t angry anymore. He asked us to sit down on the two arm chairs seated right before the big desk. He himself sat on the black chair behind the desk.

“I found something interesting.” He said and looked at Kibum. “It seems to be possible to move at least most of my powers to you.” 

Kibum was about to jump up and dance in joy but Hyukjae lifted his hand, efficiently stopping his brother.

“I wish it was that easy…” His whole posture was tense. It couldn’t be anything light that he was about to tell. “There’s a ritual with three objects or symbols. The first one is rather easy as we need to have a dead soul there with us. The soul has to be a young male, exactly of the same age as you are.” He said and nodded towards Kibum.

“Well, that should be easy.” Kibum agreed. 

“The second one is that we need something really personal that belonged to our father – which should also be rather easy as you were here till the day he died.” Kibum nodded once again. 

“But then, the last one…” Hyukjae said but paused and turned to look at me. “We need a human sacrifice.” 

“But that’s not so hard. We just go and get a bum from the streets. No one will miss him or notice he’s gone.” Kibum suggested while looking confused. Neither of us knew why Hyukjae had said it to be the hardest thing to do before he continued.

All the while he kept his eyes on me. “The person needs to be close to both of us. And we both have to mate with him before sacrificing him.”

I gulped loudly as I knew what it meant. I was unable to say anything but Kibum did it for me. 

“But… doesn’t that mean it has to be Donghae?”

Hyukjae shut his eyes and sighed. Panic began to flow into my consciousness and Hyukjae smelled it. It felt like my body had frozen to the sitting position even though my body wanted to run away as fast as possible.

“Then we cannot do it.” I heard Kibum say. Hyukjae’s eyes snapped open and he focused his eyes on his little brother. Kibum challenged his brother with the look in his eyes and just as Hyukjae opened his mouth, he spoke again. “We cannot make that sacrifice. You know what it would mean! You have made that connection with him!”

Hyukjae was about to answer Kibum something but stopped midway. “How do you know that?”

“Because I just do… Donghae practically told me everything without knowing about the connection…”

I finally found my ability to speak again. “What connection?”

“It’s a connection that ties you two together.” Kibum answered, but I wasn’t satisfied with only that. 

“If I kill you, I also kill myself.” Hyukjae murmured softly and leaned back on his chair. “Our father died sooner than any other Devil in history. He actually survived longer than anyone expected. Usually those who have made the connection to a mate die in a year after the mate and vice versa.”

“In other words, if you die, and since you don’t have any offspring, the powers will be moved to me. I don’t think all those steps are even needed since they are for situations where the devil does have offspring. The rituals are used when the sons of the Devil are too young and fragile to handle the powers.” Kibum added to his brother’s explanation.

“But… I’m never able to give you a child!!” I exclaimed. My emotions were building up in me even though I wasn’t sure if I was just panicking. “What are you gonna do?”

“I need to pay a visit to an old friend…” Hyukjae told us. Kibum stood up and excused himself politely before leaving us alone. Hyukjae didn’t seem to pay any attention to him as his eyes were fixed in me. 

“Donghae, try to calm down a bit…” I was about to yell at him, to tell him that it wasn’t all that easy but when he moved his hand to cover his nose, I knew he had said it only because of the scent of my emotions. 

My hands were shaking although I tried to ignore them. Tired to all that had happened, I moved my hand to rub my forehead, trying to sooth my nerves a little. 

“Who are you going to visit?” I looked up to Kibum who had broken the silence. Indeed, I hadn’t really even paid attention to the fact that Hyukjae already had a plan. At least I hoped it was a plan.

“Our bellowed angel. Jungsoo has been waiting for me to visit him and Youngwoon ever since I ran away.”

“Who are they?” Both of the brothers turned to look at me, wearing identical smiles.

“Youngwoon is our cousin and he lives with Jungsoo.” Hyukjae explained softly. I was wondering whether Hyukjae had called this Jungsoo person an angel only because he was so sweet…or could he really be an angel, for real? I mean, Hyukjae was now the Devil, so it would only be reasonable if there were other ‘mystical’ creatures also…  
Hyukjae snorted. “Even if I didn’t hear your voice, I could see what’s going on in your mind right now. Yes, Jungsoo really is an angel.”

“But… he lives with your cousin?”

“What’s wrong with that?” Kibum joked and punched my arm playfully. “A plus and a minus cancel each other and the result will be zero.” Then he faked to be serious again before picking on us. “But since Hyuk is a minus and you’re kinda neutral, that causes you two to be minus altogether!”

“Aish! Kibum!” Hyukjae whined and threw a small book that he found nearby at his brother. I laughed along with Kibum, whereas Hyukjae didn’t seem to be amused at all.


	8. Revelation

Hyukjae kissed me on the lips before slipping through the door. I was left alone in the grand hall. A chill went down on my back. I felt like an orphan in the big world as I stood there. Hyukjae promised me he wouldn’t be gone for long but I didn’t know whether I should trust his “I’ll be back before you notice I was gone”.

I felt isolated in the huge mansion. It felt unfamiliar now that Hyukjae wasn’t there to keep me company. I didn’t know where Kibum was either. To make myself think about something else, I chose to explore the mansion a little bit more. 

I looked around in the grand hall. I knew the living area would be behind the door to my right. Kibum had also told me that the kitchen would be behind the doors to my left. I had never been to the kitchen though, as Kibum and Hyukjae had always brought me food. 

I wondered how they had all those delicious dishes to bring for me when they were the only ones living here and from what I had heard, there weren’t any grocery stores around. Well, I guess it’s one of those things I’d never be able to fully understand. 

And another thing that I’d never be able to understand was found from the kitchen as I walked in. The stove was an old fashioned gas stove – and it was on. There was a cattle with a lid on the stove but no one was really there to cook. I looked as if the kitchen was cooking by itself!

When nothing new seemed to happen I walked back to the grand hall. I knew there were plenty of rooms upstairs that I had never been into, but I wasn’t sure if I wanted to see every room of the mansion. What if there were other supernatural things in the mansion? To be honest, I was pretty sure there were other things in there…

I walked up the stairs and turned right. I walked down the corridor and stopped only when I was at the door of Hyukjae’s bedroom that we now shared. It had become my new safety place. Whenever I felt like it, Hyukjae let me be there alone, in peace. He never bothered me if I didn’t want it – must be one of the benefits that had come along with his powers.

I opened the door and closed it once I was in. I smiled as I saw all the candles lighting up the room. Hyukjae had told me to relax while he was gone. He had also instructed me to use the library as I’d be able to find books I had never seen before. He had a stupid grin on his face when he told me he had found a nice book for me to read while he was gone and it was waiting for me on the bed. It was thick, which didn’t surprise me after seeing their other books. The cover was black with beautiful engravings on it.

Opened the book but the pages were empty. I was totally dumbfounded. And then I grew annoyed. Why did Hyukjae play such a cruel prank on me? With all the candles and such I had totally fallen for it!

In annoyance I threw the book across the room. It hit the wall in front of the bed and fell open on the floor. I huffed at it, crossed my arms and sulked. I hoped Hyukjae would come back soon so I could beat his ass for doing such a prank!

I had already become sleepy and lay down on the bed when someone knocked on the door. I already knew to expect the person to be Kibum as I told him to come in. The little brother apologized for interrupting my lone-time before stepping into the room.

“Naah, you didn’t interrupt anything…” I rubbed my eyes, trying to get rid of the sleepiness.

“Good.” His voice was quiet, and he stayed in the shadows of the room. I sat up on the bed, trying to see him better but he stayed put. 

“Kibum-ah, is everything okay?” 

“Actually, everything’s better than okay.” Kibum’s voice was cold and it made my skin turn into goose bumps. Only now did he take a few steps forward and I found myself watching at a person who looked exactly like Kibum, who just had different eyes. His usually dark eyes were bright green – something I had never seen before.

He locked his eyes with me and for a moment we just stared at each other. I felt how fear begun to invade my mind and make me unable to think of anything else but those cold green eyes that were looking into mine. 

“Hyukjae has always been stupid.” Kibum spoke slowly. “He had always been our father’s favorite for being different. He was soft even as a child.” I was quiet all the while he spoke – his cold voice was something I had never heard before. “Even when I was little, I knew Hyukjae wouldn’t be the next Devil as he wouldn’t be able to handle the powers. He wouldn’t use them as they are meant to be used.”

“Kibum…what are you talking about?”

“I’m the son of the Devil who was really meant to have the powers. Hyukjae’s soft heart poisoned our father’s mind, which is why he gave the powers to him. But, as father told me he’d give the powers to Hyukjae, I clung to the hope that he’d change. That he would become the Devil he was meant to be.”

“What are you – what are you doing?!” I screamed as Kibum moved too fast for me to see it. He moved exactly like Hyukjae when he used his powers. In a blink of an eye Kibum was standing right in front of me.

“The only thing between me and the powers is you, Donghae-ah.” Kibum said darkly. Everything happened fast. At first I was still sitting on the bed and then I was flying in the air. I hit the wall and heard an awful crunch. Only a moment later did the pain flow into my consciousness. I had hit the wall with my shoulder first, slamming the weight of my body on the shoulder blade. 

“You, sweet Donghae, are the key that I need to gain the powers.” He walked towards me. The pain was clouding my mind but I still tried to get up from the floor. I made it on my feet again but he was there, closing the way out of the room.

“You know, there’s something I never told Hyukjae…” He spoke and all the while kept his eyes on me. “I never told him that since our father had two sons, I would also gain a small fraction of his powers.” He chuckled. “It’s not much compared to his powers, but it’s enough to keep you under my control until Hyukjae arrives.”

As he took a step closer to me I spat on the floor, missing his feet with just an inch. “You can do this the hard way, if you want.” He said lightly and shrugged but the look in his eyes was the opposite of his actions. There was nothing friendly in his eyes. Only bitterness and hatred could be seen. He grabbed my arm painfully hard and I winced at the pain.

“Stop-Kibum!” I yelped as he harshly tucked me along as he begun to leave the room.

“Please, Donghae. Don’t make this any harder for yourself.”

“Where are you taking me!?” I yelled and tried to struggle myself free although I knew already it would be useless. Even if I managed to free myself, he’d be there again before I even knew it.

“Somewhere more private. I don’t like the idea of Hyukjae jumping out unexpectedly.” He spoke and tightened the hold he had of my arm. I cried out in pain that his grip caused. Funny, just how did he manage to take a hold of the arm of the same side as my painful shoulder?

He led me past the stairs and down the hallway. When we were almost by the door of the study, he stopped abruptly and kicked the door next to the study open. There was no luxurious room behind the door as I had expected but a dark staircase. He pushed me to walk ahead of himself down the stairs. I never looked behind me as I could practically feel him shadowing me.

The stairs seemed to go down for a short eternity. When we finally came to the bottom of the stairs, Kibum grabbed my arm again. He pulled me behind him, not caring my pleads of letting me go, and lead me to a dark, narrow hallway. There were no lights – the only light was at the end of the stairs – and soon I couldn’t see anything.

We stopped after a mile of walking in the darkness. There had been many turns to the left and then to the right and left again and I was totally lost. We had to be underground as there was simply no light anywhere and the temperature had dropped slightly. A chill went through me when we finally stopped. 

“Do not even try to run. You’ll just get yourself hurt.” Kibum spoke and I could see his green eyes glowing. I swallowed when he turned again and all I could see was black. For a moment there was nothing to be heard or seen. Then a creek of what I assumed to be a door opening filled my ears. Then Kibum took me by my arm again and lead me into the dark room behind the door. 

Once we were in, the door closed behind us and one single flame was turned on. It was located at the back of the smallish room but it lit the whole space fairly well. The floor was made of stone as were the walls. There were no windows at all. 

Although the room was bare and the amount furniture was minimal, there was a large bed at the corner of the room. It took almost half of the space! Other than the bed, there was a small table with two chairs on the other corner and then there was a small drawer which I assumed to be for clothing since there was a full length mirror right next to it. And the single torch was placed right above the table.

“I’m sorry but this is the best I can get.” Kibum spoke into my ear. I jerked away from him and spun around to look at him in disbelief. 

“Why are you doing this?” 

“You aren’t that slow, Donghae-ah.” Kibum smiled and it just made me feel more and more scared of him. “I want Hyukjae’s powers, of course.”

“So are you going to kill me now?” It didn’t make any sense. Why to drag me down here and show me the room if he was going to kill me? …unless he was going to torture me first. Or was he going to torture Hyukjae also, by using me as a tool?

“You see, that’s the problem here. I’ve begun to like you, Donghae. And I wouldn’t want to hurt myself by killing and losing you.”

I spat at him again. Only this time I didn’t miss him. He was standing close enough for me to spit on his face and it landed right on his cheek. “What’s your plan then?”

“I’ll make you become my mate. And then I can kill Hyukjae without losing you. Simple as that.” The creepiest grin I’ve ever seen in my entire life spread on his lips. 

“You’re mad!” 

“I know it’ll be hard at first, but eventually, I know I will manage.” His grin just got wider. “Besides, Hyukjae doesn’t remember that the time goes differently at Jungsoo’s place. We’ll have plenty of time before he understands to come back.”

I tried to swallow the tears that were threatening to fall. What if Kibum really was right? What if Hyukjae didn’t come back soon enough?

“Anyway, I’ll leave you to get comfortable.” He sounded almost cheerful, which made me feel sick. “Just press the button next to the bed if you need anything.”

And then he left. Immediately I ran to the door to see if I could open it but to my amazement, there was no handle in it. I tried pushing the door but it didn’t buckle. Finally letting the tears fall down on my face I slid down against the door. I gathered my knees into my arms and let it all out. I cried as I had cried when Hyukjae had left. 

 

Hyukjae’s POV

“Hyukjae!” I heard my old friend’s cheerful exclaim as I materialized in front of their house. He was running towards me, hands and clothes stained with dirt. I tried not to care about the dirt as he closed me in his arms and gave me a squishing hug. “It’s been such a long time!”

“I know, hyung. I’ve missed you!” I replied his tight embrace and smiled warmly at him. I saw my cousin walking out of their house when Jungsoo freed me. Kangin was wearing an expression that I interpreted to be surprised. I couldn’t smell anything – which I was actually thankful of – so I wasn’t sure about his real feelings.

“Jah! You son of a bitch!” Kangin blasted. “For ages we’ve been worrying over you since no one was able to find you and now, all of a sudden, you chose to appear on our door steps!” He walked closer to us and in the corner of my eye I saw Jungsoo giving Kangin a warning look.

“Kangin, behave.” He told his companion with stern but still caring voice. Jungsoo had always been warm hearted but yet he somehow managed to be the head of the house he shared with Kangin. I had always wondered how that could be possible since he looked fragile and weak whereas Kangin was well built and was double the size of Jungsoo. 

“You’ve gained weight, cousin.” I grinned at him playfully as fury flamed in his eyes. He launched himself at me and managed to knock me on the ground. I laughed although I was determined to win him – if not otherwise then I’d use the powers. We wrestled on the ground for a good while, both snarling and laughing at each other. Once I got the upper hand and managed to turn us so that Kangin was the one on the ground, he gathered all his strength and turned us around again. 

My body was getting tired, after all, I was much smaller than my cousin. I saw it in his eyes that he was beginning to be certain he would win, I let my powers come in and soon I had him pinned on the ground without me even touching him. I stood up with a grin on my face and looked down at my cousin who was struggling against the invisible strength keeping him on the ground.

I laughed at him for a short while before releasing him and offering him my hand. Jungsoo was rolling his eyes at us before telling us to get inside.

“And you both should take a shower…” He murmured as we walked past him. Their home wasn’t big. It was a cute two storage cottage in the middle of a forest – at least that’s what I would call it. The trees were three times taller than those on Earth. They were green and yet they weren’t of the same green. These trees were more like turquoise in color.

Kangin marched into the kitchen to prepare us all some tea while Jungsoo went to change his clothes and wash his hands. I made myself comfortable on the couch of their living room.

“You’ve made some changes since the last time I was here.” I told Kangin as he came to me and placed a tray with a tea pot, cups and some cookies on it on the table. 

“Yeah, Jungsoo wanted to bring some light inside.” Kangin muttered. Obviously he wasn’t really keen on the white furniture and the baby blue wall of the living area. But he’d do almost anything for Jungsoo, which made him to be the first black sheep – or should I say ‘white sheep’ – of the family. I was probably the second one. 

“Stop whining, Youngwoon-ah!” Jungsoo yelled from the toilet.

I was surprised and looked at Kangin in disbelief. “He calls you by your real name? I thought the closest ones call you by your nickname…”

Kangin grinned. “He does that only to annoy me. It’s actually quite a turn on in some situations.” Then he blinked at me and I got the feeling that he knew more than I had expected him to know.

Kangin poured the tea into the cups before handing one of them to me and one to Jungsoo who had just come out of the bathroom. They both sat on the couch in front of me, leaving me alone on the other one. We chatted a little about all the not-so-important –stuff before curiosity took over the two.

“So, where were you all this time?” Kangin asked and took a cookie from the tray. 

I shrugged and told them I had been hiding on Earth. I explained how it had been easy for me to hide there as humans are completely unaware of us nowadays. It would’ve been harder for me to hide if they still believed in their old fairytales like they believed back in the ancient times. 

“Kibum mentioned you have a mate?” Jungsoo suddenly asked. The question came out of the blue and I found myself coughing as I was just about to swallow. 

“Kibum’s been here?” 

“Well, he paid us a visit… I think it was one full moon ago.” Jungsoo said while seeking for confirmation from Kangin. 

“But never mind about Kibum, I want to hear about your mate!” Kangin waved Jungsoo off. They both turned their attentions to me, wearing identical expressions of curiosity. 

“His name is Donghae…” I begun and saw how both of them gasped silently. 

“He?” Jungsoo asked. “Do you mean his a male?”

“So you cannot have offspring with him?” Kangin added.

“Why such a fuzz..? Yes, he’s a male and yes, I cannot have offspring with him.” I told them with raised eyebrows. 

“Okay, we’ll ignore that for now.” Jungsoo muttered but forced a smile on his face. It all made me feel uneasy. “What’s he like? Is he good looking? Is he smart, funny? Can he cook?”

I let out a shaky laughter. “Well obviously he’s good looking. Why else would I be attracted to him?” Memories of Donghae flowed into my mind and a grin spread on my face. “He’s the best humor of all, he cooks poorly but it’s eatable and he’s just…kind and caring…” I trailed off.

“He sounds sweet.” Jungsoo agreed with me. “You have a picture of him?” 

“He has plenty if he just knows how to show them…” I heard Kangin murmur. I turned my attention to him, questioning his words with my eyes. “You know you can invade other people’s minds no matter how hard they try to block it from you, right?”

“I…” I hadn’t known that! Kibum had said he could block me from his head if he wanted to and I had never been able to break his barrier, which is why I had figured it was possible to block me out completely if the person just knew how.

“Kangin, care to explain us a bit?” Jungsoo asked him as he was just as unknown to all of this stuff as I was. Jungsoo wasn’t really supposed to be part of the world me and Kangin were from. It had been a pure accident that they had met and now they were both under surveillance because of their relationship. From what I knew they had mated before letting anyone know and that’s why they had been banished from both of the worlds they had lived in. This place was something from between the two worlds, just like Earth. They shared same features and the biggest difference was the inhabitants. Here the people were either from The Above or from Down Below – no humans were around. 

“Kibum seems to be a sneaky one… I assume he’s taught you everything you know, am I right?” Kangin spoke while bringing the cup to his lips.

“Along with all the literature and our father’s notes, yes.”

“Then he hasn’t told you everything.” Kangin stood up and walked to the kitchen. Me and Jungsoo watched him as he put the cup in the sink, all the while keeping his back towards us. And then suddenly he turned around and pointed his hand towards me. I watched as he slowly started moving his fingers and I felt how suddenly something was pressing on my throat. 

It was getting harder for me to breathe as Kangin continued closing his fingers. For a moment I thought he would really strangle me as I looked in his eyes. They had turned into a deep shade of purple.

I swallowed, the pressure making it painful and with a groan I forced Kangin’s grip to free me. It was easier than I had thought but Kangin didn’t give up. Without touching me, his powers were attacking my body. I managed to block his attacks but then I missed one and it sent me flying on the floor. Jungsoo yelled at Kangin to stop, which he did. They both came rushing to me as I rubbed the back of my head and sat up on the floor.

“I guess he never told you that we also have some powers. They’re not much, but as you can see, if you’re not prepared enough, we can overpower you.” Kangin spoke and offered me his hand while Jungsoo was inspecting my head. “My powers aren’t much compared to what Kibum has. Since he’s closer to you by blood, he had a lot more of the powers than any other of us.”

“How did I not know about that you also have powers?” I groaned and let Kangin pull me up on my feet. “I real through almost every book we had and none of them mentioned that I’m not the only one.”

“You have a lot to learn boy.” Jungsoo spoke silently. “But I think Kangin could help you. Since he’s older and doesn’t thirst after your powers…”

“What?” I exclaimed, taking a hold of what he had said. 

“Don’t be so naïve, Hyukjae. Kibum has always wanted your powers so why wouldn’t he want them now?” Kangin rolled his eyes.

I felt stupid – a complete idiot, to be exact. How had I not doubted Kibum? Of course at first I had been a little hesitant to trust him but he had been the only one there to help me. He had been the only one who could actually do something to ease my burden. And everything he had taught had worked and made me believe him.

“How well do you manage your powers?” Jungsoo asked me warily. “How much has Kibum taught you?” 

“Err, I know how to read minds, to interpret the smells of emotions – which you’re covering up quite efficiently. I can also externalize my forces, just like I did to Kangin while wrestling. And I can double my body.” I stopped for a moment to think if I had left anything important out. “Oh, and I know I could also manipulate other people’s emotions but I haven’t been able to practice that yet. I’ve promised I won’t mess up with Donghae.”

“And Kibum won’t let you since then you would be able to really see into his head.” Kangin added. “There are quite many things he hasn’t taught you.”

“Such as?” Me and Jungsoo asked together.

“Like the fact that Hyukjae can put things into our minds, if he just knew how to do it.” Kangin told Jungsoo. “That way he could show us his own memories or make us believe whatever he wants us to believe. He just needs to know which strings to pull and he can manipulate people to be whatever he wants.”

“Hello there, I’m standing right here.” I hit Kangin’s arm as he was talking to Jungsoo just like I wasn’t even there. “Can you teach me how to do it?”

“I wouldn’t really want to let you into my head, mind you…” Kangin groaned but Jungsoo stepped forward and let his guard down. The moment he did that, the smell of his emotions hit my senses. 

“I’ll help you.” He said with a kind smile. I nodded at him while Kangin opened his mouth only to shut it again as Jungsoo held his hand up, efficiently silencing his partner. “Please” Jungsoo asked for me to sit on the couch with him as Kangin settled on the other one opposite to us.

“I’m not really sure of what exactly should I do.” Jungsoo turned to look at Kangin without a word.

“I’ve never been able to do it myself. But try to think of a memory you’d like to share with him. Then all you basically need to do is push it into his mind for him to see it.” Kangin shrugged. As if I was supposed to just do it!

I tried to get rid of the growing frustration and looked at Jungsoo in the eyes the moment he turned back to me. A slight hint of fear flowed into my nose and I knew Jungsoo was insecure about the whole situation. I was just about to tell him we wouldn’t have to do this but he slapped my cheek to wake me up and get to work. It didn’t hurt, but it was enough to get me working.

It was actually quite amazing to see my own eyes reflect from Jungsoo’s as I begun to read his mind. It was easy now that he didn’t block it. I closed my eyes as I tried to concentrate on getting into his mind – hearing it wasn’t enough as I had to get into it.

 

Jungsoo screamed at something he saw and I stopped immediately. Kangin had stood up and was looking angry at me. I didn’t know what Jungsoo had seen as I couldn’t yet control the memories I let him see.

“I-I’m sorry.” Jungsoo stuttered after he recovered from what he saw and got his own eyesight back. 

“What did you see?” I asked him warily. There were things I would never tell anyone and if Jungsoo had seen something like that…

“It was…something you did to Donghae…”

“Shit!” I jumped up and started phasing around. That was exactly what I never wanted anyone to know about! 

“Calm down, Hyuk. That wasn’t you! You couldn’t help it.” Jungsoo tried to ease my feelings but it didn’t really work. If I just could, I would erase all those memories of what happened during the transformation time. And even more, if I just could erase those memories from Donghae’s mind…

“How the hell am I supposed to ‘calm down’?” I yelled at them and saw them flinch. Jungsoo had brought his barrier back up and so I couldn’t smell his emotions anymore but the flinch told me enough and I tried to will the flame of the powers down. “Sorry… I never meant you to see what you saw.”

“I know.” Jungsoo let a small smile lighten his face. He motioned me to sit back down on the couch and eventually I did. 

“Hyuk, you have to understand that those powers are now a part of you and you have to start controlling them. Not the other way around.” Kangin said darkly as he also sat back down. I didn’t get my tongue to work so I settled with looking out of the window. It was already dark outside.

“When are you heading back home?” Jungsoo asked me. “Are you going to spend the night?”

“Naah, I need to get back to Donghae.” I paid only half of my attention to them as my concentration was mainly in Donghae. I already missed him and wondered if he was alright.

“Wait.” Kangin said abruptly. “Are you saying that you left Donghae down there, alone with Kibum?”  
I turned to look at him. “Yes, why?”

“Oh for God’s sake!” Kangin yelled and Jungsoo groaned at his curse. “Are you really that stupid!?”

“Youngwoon!” Jungsoo warned him but I had already stood up, challenging him with my eyes. Kangin, however, ignored the look I sent him. 

“You better get back there before anything bad happens!”

“Like what?” I spat. The look I got back from Kangin made me freeze. I turned to look at Jungsoo who seemed to understand the same as Kangin did. “You’re not saying that…”

“Hyuk, go back. Now.” Jungsoo said quietly. 

“If something bad happens, just inform us and we’ll come for help.” Kangin added and pushed me towards the door. I was still too startled to act properly and almost fell as Kangin pushed me out of the house. “Go already, you idiot!” Kangin yelled at me. 

And I did. I pictured our house in front of my eyes and felt the ground beneath my feet disappear.

As I deformed at the gate of our yard, the scent of fear and terror hit me.


	9. Memories

I refused to go any closer to the bed than what I had to when walking to the table. I pulled out one of the chairs and sat down, wiping my face to the sleeve of my long t-shirt. I don’t know for how long had I cried before I had run out of tears. 

I pulled my knees close to my chest again as I sat on the chair. Thoughts were running in my head, no matter how hard I tried to force them out. I didn’t want to think about Hyukjae. Where was he and when would he come back? Would he know where I was? Would he be able to save me without being hurt himself? Or would he manage at all?

The last question was something I didn’t even want to think about. Hyukjae wasn’t ready to fight Kibum as he wasn’t yet completely familiar with his own powers. And he didn’t know Kibum also had powers, although I believed they weren’t as great as Hyukjae’s. But Kibum knew how to use his powers. 

What if Kibum would be able to defeat Hyukjae?

 

“Donghae-ah.” I heard Kibum’s voice coming through the door. Immediately I turned my back towards the door and crossed my arms over my chest. The door opened with a creak and Kibum stepped in. I listened as he closed the door behind himself, leaving us locked in the room with no escape. 

“You must be hungry. I brought you food.” His voice sounded soft but I wouldn’t fall for it. “Hyukjae hasn’t come back yet so I thought we could have this dinner together.” He put the tray with two plates full of food on the table in front of me. 

“I’ve lost my appetite.” To be honest, I was so hungry I could’ve eaten a horse. But there was no way I would’ve let him know my weak spot. He sat on the chair next to me and I could really feel his eyes roaming around my body as I refused to look at him. 

“C’mon, Donghae-ah. In your world you would’ve been without eating anything about a day or so. You must eat.” He pushed me. Had it already been a day since Hyukjae left? I never realized really just how slow the time went here. And suddenly my stomach growled loudly, making me curse my own body in my mind. Kibum chuckled, satisfied that my body had betrayed me. “That’s what I thought.”

“Although I may be hungry, I lost my appetite the moment you came here.” I snarled at him, finally turning to look at him. His green eyes greeted me and the way he looked at me made me feel sick. 

Kibum ignored my words as he took the plates from the tray and placed the other one right in front of me. I noticed how there was more food on my plate than there was on his. “I’m still not hungry.” I repeated but he continued ignoring me and started eating. I watched him eat, all the time fighting the temptation to eat the food that had been offered to me.

He was almost finished when I came to think of the possibility of him taking the food away with him. My hunger took the best of me at the thought and I took the spoon into my hands. I saw him smile at me although I tried not to care. The food was once again delicious. The only down side of the dinner was the person I was having it with as I could almost forget that I was locked up in a room with no windows whatsoever.

Kibum settled to watch me as I ate after he finished his own food. At first I didn’t notice the small smile that had been on his face turning into something else that made me shiver. He looked at me like a lion looks at a gazelle that it was about to kill. 

It was too late already when I realized something wasn’t right. My fingers were tingling and I could barely feel and move my legs. My vision begun to sway a little and the spoon fell from my hold. I tried to support my body to the table but my hand slipped and I fell on the ground. 

Kibum was still sitting on his chair and was looking down at me with that smile on his face. Gosh how much I hated him but I couldn’t even voice it out. My whole body was paralyzed and my mind was cloudy although I hadn’t lost consciousness – at least not yet. 

“I really hoped you would’ve eaten everything I offered you…” He muttered softly. “You see, the drug I gave you would’ve made this whole process easier for both of us as you’d have been…let’s say, more cooperative.” 

‘What the hell is he talking about?’ I wanted to scream and bite him when he reached down to brush a stray of hair from my face. I would’ve bitten his fingers off if I could. 

“Let’s get you to bed, now shall we?”

I panicked. I seriously did. What was he going to do to me? All kinds of horrible thoughts came to my mind but they all vanished when my body moved on its own. I swear I didn’t move any of my limbs but there I was, walking towards the bed and then laying down on it. Kibum sat right next to my body, caressing my cheeks with one of his hands.

“You seem so scared. I should’ve probably warned you that I can now do whatever I want with your body. It does exactly as I want it to.”

Panic and terror, those were the things in my mind. I had to regain the control of my body – now! I didn’t want to know what Kibum meant by saying he could do ‘anything’ with my body. And I was pretty sure he was going to show me what exactly he meant. 

“I cannot smell your emotions the way Hyukjae does, but I can see the fear in your eyes. What are you afraid of, Donghae?” Kibum spoke quietly. It almost felt like he was speaking to himself rather than to me as I couldn’t reply him. “Are you afraid that I’ll succeed in breaking you? That I’ll make you forget Hyukjae and mate with me instead?” 

In the matter of fact, no, I wasn’t really afraid of that. I couldn’t deny and say that thought had never occurred in my mind but that wasn’t the main reason I was afraid. I was afraid of what Kibum was going to do.

“I am going to break you, Donghae. If I just could’ve made you eat everything on the plate I could be able to go into your mind and turn you into a mess that only I could solve and–“ he stopped his sentence midway and jerked his head up. He was listening to something that I couldn’t hear.

“Oh, I got a visitor.” He then smiled at me. “I’ll be back soon. Don’t go anywhere.” 

If I just had the ability, I would’ve told him to go fuck himself! He gave a kiss on my cheek before leaving the room. He left me there, still paralyzed on the bed, and told me not to go anywhere! What a fucking comedian did he think he was!?

 

I don’t know how long it took for me to be able to move my fingers. And then slowly I regained control over my arms and legs. Every single limb felt heavier than ever and it took me a lot of effort to roll on my side and try to sit up. With a groan I was finally able to make myself sit on the edge of the bed. My vision swung but I tried to focus on the wall in front of me. The drug had been rather effective.

I tried to clear my head by concentration on the sounds that I heard. I was many stores below the ground and it surprised me how I could hear mumbled noises. 

Kibum must be coming back!

The voices were getting closer and closer. I just sat there, unable to do anything but listen to them while they were getting closer. Kibum was going to bring the visitor down here to see me and I wasn’t sure what I should think about it. And who was this person anyway?

I jumped a little when the door was forcefully pushed open. A person I didn’t know was standing at the doorway with Kibum silently standing behind him.

“You’re sick, Kibum. You hear me?” The man snarled at Kibum quietly. He didn’t look at him as he spoke but kept his harsh eyes locked to me. His words got mixed with my fearful feelings. I thought he was on Kibum’s side, but now that he called him sick it made me unsure of the situation. 

The man walked into the room but span around when Kibum followed him. He snarled something at him that I couldn’t understand. They used a language I had never heard before. It had to be something I wasn’t even meant to understand. 

Kibum spat something back at him before looking at me. His eyes lingered on me for a short while before he turned and closed the door behind himself. Now I was left alone with the stranger who was studying me, his eyes moving from my face down on my body and then back up to my face again. 

“So, you’re the human Hyukjae brought here.” The man stated. I wanted to correct him, to tell him that technically it was Kibum who brought me here, but I was still too tired. And besides, the man spoke again. “Don’t get me wrong, I’m not completely on your side. But I’m not really on his side either.” 

“Then what – what are you doing here?” I had to take a break to breathe. 

“I simply came to see Hyukjae.” The man shrugged. “I heard he’d be around.”

“Well, you’re a little late now.”

“I noticed. Anyway, I just wanted to see you’re still alright. Humans aren’t supposed to be here. It might be dangerous even though you had the brothers there to take care of you.”

“Does this look like taking care of me to you?” I groaned halfheartedly. 

“I’m sorry, there’s nothing I can do.” The man began to leave the room. I struggled to stand up but almost fell as soon as I got on my feet. 

“Please–“ the words died in my mouth. He was the only hope I had right now. I never knew when Hyukjae would be back and who knew what Kibum was going to do in the meantime. “Please don’t leave me.” I begged him, not trying to hide anything or act braver than I really was. 

“What are you really scared of?” The man asked quietly.

I gulped, contemplating my answer for a second. “Kibum.”

“What do you think he’ll do to you?”

“He tries to force me to mate with him.”

He looked like he’d laugh at me but he didn’t. Instead he turned fully towards me and tucked his hands into the pockets of his black trousers. Only now did I realize just how well the man had dressed. Not that Kibum or Hyukjae didn’t wear neat and fitting clothes, I mean… This man just had the clothes that made his body stand out. The straight trousers made his legs look longer and the dress shirt that had the two uppermost buttons open let me see his collarbones. He was actually really hot.

I almost slapped myself for thinking such things. Gosh how much I missed Hyukjae and it seemed that my body was also graving for him. Why else would I be looking at the man from head to toe?

“But Donghae, in order for Kibum to reach his goal he needs you to surrender and become submissive to him. And I can still smell Hyukjae on you and as long as the bonding is strong, there’s nothing Kibum can do to break it.”

“But what if–“ I was about to ask, what if Hyukjae didn’t come back on time, but I couldn’t get my mouth to work. 

“Stay strong till Hyuk gets back. Until that you just have to wait for him and cope with the situation.”

“Wait!” I told him as he was already by the door. He stopped but didn’t turn back to me anymore, indicating that he was really leaving this time. “Are you sure there’s nothing you could do?” I asked.

“I’m sorry, Donghae.” 

“Will you at least tell me your name?”

“You won’t need it.” He said and I could hear him smile a bit. 

“Please?”

“It’s Hankyung.” And then he left me alone. I heard Kibum’s voice before the door closed again and all I could hear was mumbled noise. 

For a moment I hoped I’d be left alone for the rest of the day but boy was I wrong. The sounds faded and after a while the door was opened again. At first I hoped it would be Hankyung, that he would’ve changed his mind, but I was disappointed to see Kibum walk in. He looked angry and I feared for something bad to happen. 

Without a word he threw something at me. Reflexes kicked in and I immediately covered my head but nothing hit me. A heavy object landed on the bed next to me and I was amazed to see the book Hyukjae had given me lying open right next to me.

“Hyuk wanted you to read it.” Kibum said bluntly.

“It’s full of blank pages?” I looked suspiciously at Kibum. What was he up to now?

“Oh gosh, how stupid can humans be?” Kibum huffed. “You write your name on it and read what it tells you.” He threw a pen at me, which hit my arm painfully, before he turned and left.

I stared at the book for a good moment. So I was supposed to write my name on it and then the text would just magically appear on the pages? What the actual fuck?

Oh heck, I picked up the pen from the floor where it had fallen and took the book closer. I opened the front page and wrote my full name on it as I wasn’t sure if it was required or not. And then I waited for the text to appear. 

In a minute, it did.

Hyukjae’s handwriting greeted me and brought tears into my eyes.

**Dear Donghae, I’ll be gone already when you read this. I hope Kibum is treating you well and you’re not too afraid of being there alone. I know you’re shaking your head in denial but I know you well enough to know how insecure you get when you’re feeling lonely.**

**I’m meeting my old friend who happens to live with my cousin. I won’t be staying there for long but since the time goes differently there, I cannot promise you and tell when exactly I’ll get back home.**

**In the mean while you’re waiting for me, I thought you’d like to read something about me and my past. I’m sorry I’ve always kept my past hidden from you, but you need to understand that I did it for you. You wouldn’t have believed me anyway if I told you who I really am, now would you?**

**Anyway, have fun and don’t be afraid of laughing at my past. I would be laughing too if it just wasn’t my own history…**

**I love you, Lee Donghae. Till death does us apart.**

Tears fell on my cheeks as I read his words. I turned the page and saw a photo of two young boys running down a dark hill surrounded by flames. And when I say they were running, I really mean it. The photo was alive – the boys really were down the hill, laughing together without a sound. 

I smiled at the photo as I understood the two boys were Kibum and Hyukjae. Hyukjae looked like a four-year-old whereas it seemed that Kibum had just learned how to run. I turned the page and wiped my face to the sleeve of my shirt.

I read through a page after another. Sometimes I really did laugh at Hyukjae but sometimes I found myself crying wantonly, unable to carry on. I turned the page once again and was greeted by yet another living photo. There was a young man standing beside Hyukjae who looked like he’d murder the man at any moment.

**This is my cousin, Youngwoon. Nowadays he lives with a man named Jungsoo. They’re one of my closest friends. My father always told me to stay away from Youngwoon as he was ‘bad influence’. He was extremely attracted to Jungsoo, which isn’t really approved in our world. That’s why he and Jungsoo had to run.**

**The photo was taken right after I lost to Youngwoon in a wrestling match. You know how much I hate losing… I was like that even when I was younger. Youngwoon has always been stronger than me and I won him only rarely. I think he let me win rather than really losing to me. Oh well…**

On the next page I found Kibum reading a book. Hyukjae was behind him, apparently making fun of his little brother. Kibum turned around in his chair, yelled something at Hyukjae and threw the book at him. It hit him right on his head. The mini-movie ended with Kibum laughing and Hyukjae tripping over on the floor at the force of the book thrown at him. 

**Me and Kibum were always fighting. He tried his best at pissing me off whereas I did whatever I could to embarrass him. I think our butler took this photo when I managed to pick on him and he actually did get angry with me. If I remember correctly, he didn’t speak to me in weeks.**

**I have the feeling of Kibum actually being disappointed with me. I know he has always desired to have the powers that our father chose to give to me instead of him. I actually feel sorry for him. Kibum would’ve coped much better than what I do.**

**But I trust him now. At first when he showed up on Earth I doubted his motives but now I think I understand him a little better. He still thinks he should’ve been the one to receive the powers after our father, although he hasn’t said that into my face. But he’s my brother and he has helped me a lot. I don’t think I’d be able to leave you alone there like this without Kibum. And I know that if you have any kinds of problems, you can go to Kibum.**

I stared at the text. Gosh, how much I would’ve wanted to tell Hyukjae just how wrong he was about his brother. Kibum was a sneak that had lured Hyukjae to trust him and Hyukjae had taken the bite. And now I was there, sitting on the bed of my new prison. 

How long had I been there – not just in that goddamn room, but in that world in general? How long had I been gone from Earth?

New tears and new sorrow flowed into me. Everyone I knew would think I was dead. I had left a suicide note on the kitchen table before leaving the apartment for good. I had apologized my parents for not being the son they had wanted me to be. I apologized Sungmin for not being strong enough of a friend. I was weak and didn’t have the energy to carry on living without Hyukjae. And finally I had apologized Hyukjae for not waiting for him to come back to me. I loved him, more than I loved myself, but I couldn’t keep on suffering the emptiness of the apartment that was supposed to be for a married couple, not for a man without his husband.

I remembered Sungmin’s worried expression as I had left his apartment the last time. Heechul had also been worried but he had at least tried to lighten up the mood by telling us lame jokes. I had forced myself to laugh but it had gotten out as a weak and unhappy chuckle. 

And what about my parents? Would they finally show me some kind of love when they thought I had died? Or would they cling to the hope of me being still alive somewhere since my body would never be found? I pictured my mother’s crying face from the day before our marriage. She hadn’t had the strength to fight my father’s will but I was quite sure she wouldn’t have done the same if he hadn’t persuaded her into it. 

I still remember the last conversation I had with my mother. We had been sitting on the bed of my old room at their house – the house that I used to call home.

 

_“Donghae-ah, are you really sure about this?” She asked me with tears in her eyes. I took her hands into mine and looked her in the eye._

_“Mom, I’ve considered this decision over many times. This is the right thing to do.”_

_“But… is he really the right one?” She asked warily. “I mean, are you sure you want to spend the rest of your life with this…man?” It sounded like she tried to ask me nicely if I was sure I was gay._

_I squished her hands in reassurance. “I’m absolutely sure about this, mom. You don’t need to worry about me anymore. We’ll move to Seoul… it’s easier there than what it would be here in this small town.” She gave me a slight nod. “Mom, I really do love him.”_

_“I just… it’s so hard to…digest.”_

_“I would appreciate if you gave us your blessings.” I told her quietly. She turned her head away and I knew what it meant. She and my father would never be able to accept our marriage. We would never get their blessing._

 

I gritted my teeth together and tried to prevent the memories from flowing into my mind. They were too painful right now. Those memories have always been things I’ve tried to forget but they still rise to my consciousness sometimes. 

I put the book on the floor. I was too tired to continue reading it. Before lying down on the bed I took one last look of the laughing Hyukjae on the photo with yelling Kibum and then I let the sleep take over. 

I slept restlessly, tossing and turning all the time on the bed. And when I finally woke up I saw Kibum sitting on the edge of the bed, staring at me with his bright green eyes.

“Good morning, sleeping beauty.” Suddenly there was a needle breaking the skin of my right arm. I screamed and tried to get away from him, but he didn’t let me. He made me stay put by putting more pressure on the arm as he put something into my system.

It became hard for me to breathe and my mouth went completely dry. Was he putting the drug he used earlier straight into my body!?


	10. Loss

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is written in Hyukjae's POV  
> Warning: contains violence and death :'(

I stayed in the shadows, not wanting to barge in to the mansion before I was sure of what was going on. I could smell Donghae’s fear through the walls, which shouldn’t be possible. The scent of the fear wouldn't be able to penetrate through the walls of the mansion. This fear that surrounded me was much stronger than it should ever be. 

I closed my eyes and concentrated on Donghae’s scent. There was something mixed with the smell of fear. I just couldn’t really name the emotion… Was he hurt? Or maybe it was humiliation? I couldn’t really tell. 

I tried to localize Donghae but I couldn’t find his thoughts. If I just could reach his mind I could tell him I had come back. And Donghae would be able to tell me where he was and what the hell had happened while I had been gone.

I couldn’t sense Kibum either but I was certain he was in the mansion. Someone else had been there also, but I didn’t know who. The person had been there just before I arrived.

I cursed. Why had I been gone for that long? I hadn’t realized I’d been gone for a few ‘rotates’. It was about a week in the human world. Anything could’ve happened!

I had to do something. Since I couldn’t reach Donghae from here, maybe I could do it if I was in the house. I took a hold of that thought and silently moved to the front doors. The doors opened before me, making a horrible creaking sound as they moved further open.

I stepped into the grand hall only to find it completely dark. There were no lights anywhere.

“Kibum!” I roared. That little bastard was definitely up to something. Donghae’s scent was even stronger than before and I had to cover up my nose. The scent of horror was suffocating me but I had to get over it. Otherwise I wouldn’t be able to concentrate.

I yelled for Kibum again. A long moment passed before I could sense his presence in the house. He was upstairs, the corridor to the left. I stayed put as I waited for him to come to the hall. He walked slowly, taking his time and angering me even further. He masked his scent well but let a slight hint of smugness slip through. I snarled silently.

“What have you done to him?” I growled as I felt his presence at the top of the stairs. He didn’t move any closer to me, just stood there. I couldn’t see him properly although I knew I’d see him clearly if I used my powers. But then his eyes begun to glow in the darkness. The bright green glare welcomed me back home.

“Funny, I was about to ask you the same.” 

“Don’t play games with me, Kibum. Where is he?” And to emphasize my point, to tell him I was furious, I let my eyes flame.

“He’s somewhere safe.” He said darkly. I snarled, sounding animalistic but he continued speaking anyway. “His body refuses me although the bonding scent has faded already.”

My whole body tensed. Has he tried to break our mate bonding? I swore I’d kill this kid! “What have you done to him?”

“His body and mind refuse the drugs and spells I’ve tried.” He said nonchalantly. “How did you do it?” His eyes were glowing brighter all the while he spoke and I could feel his own powers radiating. He was frustrated, which also made him angry. Those two feelings made a bad combination.

“You used drugs on Donghae?” I feared for the worst. If Donghae’s body refused the drugs, he could get killed by his own body… Kibum didn’t answer me but I could see his form shaking slightly. 

A burst of pain and fear hit my senses. It was too sudden and didn’t give me any time to prepare for it. “Where is he, Kibum? Where are you keeping him?”

“So you can’t sense him, huh?” Was that maniac smiling? “I thought father had just joked about the labyrinth, but apparently he was right.”

“The labyrinth?!” I yelled at him. “Have you son of a bitch taken him down there?!”

“Umm… if I’m the son of a bitch, that makes two of us.” He shrugged. He fucking shrugged! “Maybe I have. Too bad you can’t find him.”

He looked too smug for my liking. “Someone else has been here. Who?” I looked at his reaction closely. It was clear he hadn’t expected me to be able to sense the person.

“I won’t tell you.” 

“Oh you will.” I groaned silently. I nailed my eyes into his and attacked the barriers of his mind. He had years of practice in protecting his mind but I knew now that I’d be able to break the barriers if I just hit the right spots.

“I see Youngwoon taught you some new tricks.” I watched him as he walked down the stairs only to stop midway of the staircase. “Shall we check how well you know your powers?” 

That was the only warning I got from him before his powers attacked me. I was hit by a rush of air that pushed me towards the doors behind my back. It was like an invisible wall would’ve been pushed at me. 

“You’re rusty, brother.” Kibum spoke quietly but I could still hear him. Another rush of power was sent to attack me, blowing the hell out of me as I concentrated on keeping the wall from pushing me out of the now open doors. If I was pushed out, I wouldn’t be able to smell Donghae as well as I did now. I couldn’t lose the faint contact that his emotions brought.

Another wave of Donghae’s emotions flew in the air. It was enough to wake my powers. I knew I was about to lose it. The powers, the other me, had been angered to the point where I couldn’t control it anymore. 

I felt myself slip away as the powers took the control of my body. I saw how my body moved on its own. And odd feeing of certainty surrounded me as I settled to watch the fight like an outsider. 

Just like Kangin had told me, Kibum was much more powerful than he was. He could use the shadows to help him with his attacks. He didn’t have the same physical abilities as  
Kangin had, but he was talented with abstract powers. He tried to break the walls of my mind but with no success. The powers I possessed took care of me and my body. Kibum didn’t get a chance to hurt me.

Kibum managed to get the shadows of the room to surround me. I couldn't see anything. Kibum knew I had more senses than he, but now that I had lost one, we were more equal. I could still sense his presence and locate where he was, but I couldn’t see what he was about to do. I fought the shadows surrounding me at the same time as I fought my brother’s attacks. He didn’t make it easy for me.

The fight went on and on. I knew it wouldn’t end before one of us got too tired to continue. Kibum lowered his guard only for a second, but it was enough for my body to send a rush of energy at him. He fell down the stairs and when he hit the floor, my invisible power was forcing him to stay on the ground.

I looked at Kibum through my flaming eyes. For the first time in my entire life I saw my brother scared. He looked up into my eyes, silently asking me the question of what would I do now.

I decided it was my turn to regain the control over my body again but it was harder than before. I fought the powers to let me in. I told it to stand back, but the powers didn’t buckle. 

And then I saw my hands wrap around Kibum’s head. I panicked as I knew what was coming. But I couldn’t do anything but watch my own hands twist Kibum’s head. A disgusting sound of bone cracking filled the hall.

My brother’s body fell limb in my arms when I regained the control of my body. The powers withdrew, apologized me softly and went back to sleep. I looked at Kibum’s open eyes. The green color had faded, showing his true self staring blindly to the emptiness.

A wail of pain and sorrow left my lips. “I’m sorry…” I whispered to my brother’s dead body and closed his eyes. I couldn’t come to think of anything else but how I had killed my own brother. I had been too weak to save him from myself… “I’m so, so sorry.” In the still silence I kissed his forehead.

I hadn’t noticed someone had come to the grounds of the mansion before the person quietly spoke my name. Startled, I stood up and spun around. The person was standing in the open doorway. He lifted his hands up, to show me he wasn’t going to fight me, when he saw my reaction.

“Hyukjae, I’m not here to attack you.” His voice was faintly familiar. I knew him somewhere from the past. 

“Hangeng?” The man nodded. “Why are you here?”

“I think you need me to show you the way to your mate…”

For some reason I was hesitant to agree with him. Hangeng was my little cousin. He was much older than me but it didn’t make him any weaker. Our people had always been scared of him because of his swaying temper. Even though he appeared cool to others there’s always the possibility of him snapping. No one knew why he had gained the powers he possessed as they were much stronger than no one had expected them to be. His temper and powers made him a dangerous person to be around with.

He knew I was on the edge, I didn’t even try to hide my nervousness. He smiled a little at me and I felt how he gave up the barriers of his mind. I could see he was there to help me and Donghae. He couldn’t lie to me now.

“Alright…” I said slowly. He let his hands fall to his sides as he walked closer to me. He placed his hand on my shoulder without a word and gestured me to follow him. Together we picked Kibum’s body up and carried him to his room. We laid him on his bed and I crossed his hands over his chest. Hangeng disappeared from the room but whe he came back, he covered Kibum's body with a black cloth.

We stayed by his side in the silence for a moment. Hangeng spoke in our ancient language, asking for forgiveness to Kibum’s soul, while I stayed silent. I couldn't unite him in the prayer after all that happened. 

“We have to go.” Hangeng said softly after he finished. I gulped loudly as I followed him out of Kibum’s room. For a moment I thought Donghae was feeling better as I couldn’t really smell him properly but as soon as I concentrated on his scent, I could smell the same fear and humiliation that had been there earlier. 

I followed Hangeng to the door next to the study, knowing it would lead to the labyrinth that had been built under the mansion. If you didn’t know where you were going, you’d get lost and never be able to find the way out. We descended the steep stairs into the darkness. Our father had always been very strict about the labyrinth. Even he couldn't sense what was hidden in there. That's the reason why I couldn't sense Donghae. I would've gotten lost if I had tried to find him on my own.

Hangeng let his eyes glow, showing us enough light to know where we were going. His almost white eyes glanced at me time after time, as if making sure I was still there. 

“I already asked for Heechul to come. We have to get Donghae back to where he belongs.” Hangeng spoke right before stopping. I knew what he meant. Humans weren’t meant to be here, at least not alive. Hangeng showed me the door that was just a few steps away from us. I knew Donghae would be behind that door, but in what condition I’d find him in was a mystery.

“I’ll wait here.” Hangeng assured me quietly and I opened the door.

The room was dark and the scent of Donghae’s emotions hit me harder once again. I found a torch from the corner of the room and willed it to flame. I saw Donghae lying on the bed, fully naked, with straps of leather tying him on his place. The straps had broken his skin, the bright red color of his blood paining his skin.

“Donghae!” I cried out and hurried to him. “Oh no, no, no no, no…” His eyes were closed, skin sweaty and burning hot. Now I knew what Kibum had meant by saying his body fought back the drugs in his system. He didn’t react to my presence or voice. I touched his soft cheek but nothing changed.

Had I come too late?

“Hangeng!” He came rushing in but stopped at seeing the scene in front of him. 

“We need to hurry. Heechul will be here soon.” The man said hurriedly. He came closer to the bed but before he could reach us, I lost control. I was too scared for Donghae to fight back the powers. I was forced to the background of my consciousness again and it was too late for me to fight it. I heard the low voice of my powers growl at Hangeng, telling him to back off. The man nodded stiffly and withdrew his hand from the straps tying Donghae’s legs. Slowly he backed away from the two of us, all the while keeping his eyes on me. 

“Hyukjae, fight.” He kept the tone of his voice calm but stern. “You must get the grip of yourself.”

“It's a little too late for that…” I snarled at him.


	11. Shield

I saw nothing, I heard nothing, I felt nothing. It was like I didn’t even exist anymore. Was I dead now? Is this how it is after you pass?

No, I could still think somewhat clearly. Dead people can’t think, can they? 

I don’t know what happened while I was… off. The last thing I remembered was the fear. Kibum had forced something into my body and there had been nothing I could’ve done to stop him. He had smiled at me but there had been nothing friendly in that smile. And it certainly didn’t reach his green eyes. 

Was I like this because of the drug? It had to be the cause of this. There were no other options really…

 

I cracked open one of my eyes. It was difficult and the lights of the place blinded me instantly. I closed the eye again and sighed. My mind was foggy but I still remembered the smile on Kibum’s face. I wasn’t sure if I was ready to face him again.

I let my consciousness slip away and fell asleep again.

 

Someone was talking in the room. I couldn’t understand his words but then another voice answered him. His words were spoken in a language I didn’t know but his voice was somewhat familiar. It brought peace into my mind and I relaxed. 

Hangeng. He was there.

But the other man spoke silently and made it harder for me to identify the person. He spoke with short sentences and sounded upset. Hangeng on the other hand sounded slightly frustrated. Were they talking about me? 

I cracked my eyes open only to close them as soon as the light got the chance to slip into my eyes. It was way too bright. I groaned silently, but the two men noticed it. I heard them rush closer to me and someone touched my hand. 

“Donghae-ah?” Now I recognized the other person. It was Heechul, although it was weird to hear him worry that much. He always took things lightly and tried to find something good out of everything _and_ he made stupid jokes to cheer other people up. No matter what the situation was.

I tried to open my eyes again, but it was harder than I thought. The light was still blinding me and I had to blink a few times before I could focus my eyes on Heechul’s face. I was in a room with light beige walls. There were electric lights on the ceiling. I was in bed, under white covers, and Heechul was sitting on a chair next to the bed. Hangeng was standing behind him with his hand on Heechul’s shoulder.

I tried to greet them but my mouth was too dry. And besides, I was tired. So instead of speaking I closed my mouth again and smiled at them. Heechul squeezed my hand slightly more and replied my smile. Hangeng also seemed to relax seeing me react somehow.

There were so many questions I wanted to ask. First of all, where was Hyukjae? Why wasn’t he there? And because of the electricity, I knew I was back in my own world – back on Earth. But how?

“We’ll tell you everything later.” Hangeng said softly. “But right now, you need to rest.” I tried my best to nod, to tell them I understood what he just said. Fortunately they understood my weak movement.

“I’ll stay here.” Heechul said and turned to Hangeng without taking his hand from mine. “Tell the others he’s woken up.” He was silent for a moment before he said something using the foreign language. Hangeng answered him something before exiting the room. 

I felt my eyes slide shut again.

 

The next time I woke the room was darker than before. The lights on the ceiling were turned off and there was only a small reading lamp on. I turned my head and smiled at the sight of Heechul sleeping on the chair. He had really stayed here, which made my heart melt. 

“Hyung…” I whispered and was surprised by my own hoarse voice. Although I had been barely audible, he woke up and immediately looked at me.

“Hey~” He cooed and reached for my hand again. “How’re you feeling?”

“Water…” I croaked. He smiled and reached for a cup on the bedside table. 

“Can you sit up?” He asked but helped me anyway, and I was grateful he did. My arms were too weak to push my body up. He gently tucked a pillow behind my back so I was able to lean on the wall. He helped the cup on my lips. “Better?” He asked as he put the cup back on the table. 

“Thanks…” He smiled weakly. I turned my head and looked around in the room. I wasn’t in the hospital, that was certain. There were large paintings on the walls and a large window that overlooked the city. “Where are we?” 

“At my place.” Heechul answered simply. “We didn’t take you to the hospital since the doctors wouldn’t have understood what was wrong with you.” I was about to ask him what he meant but he didn’t let me. “Your body was drugged with substances that this world doesn’t know. And besides, the best way for you to recover is to be here where you belong. The world where you spent the last year and half wasn’t healthy for you.”

I nodded as I understood what he meant. “Where’s Hyukjae?” I couldn’t help it. That question had been bothering me ever since I woke up. The smile on Heechul’s face fell. 

“He’s not here…” 

“Hyung?” My voice became wary. 

Heechul sighed visibly before he answered. “He kind of lost himself when he found you. A lot had happened and when you were like that…” He took a deep breathe. “Let’s just say that he’s not himself. The person you see isn’t really him but his other side.”

“I don’t… understand.” What did he mean, he’s not himself? And what other side?

“He can’t control his powers. He’s unpredictable.” 

Somehow I regained my energy after hearing Heechul’s words. “I have to see him.” I threw the blanket away and swung my legs over the edge of the bed. Heechul jumped up and run around the bed. As soon as I was in the sitting position, my vision blurred and I felt myself fall on the bed. I blinked rapidly and got my sight back. Heechul looked worried and told me to lie back down but I refused to do so.

“No, I have to see him.” I told him stubbornly. 

“Donghae, you don’t understand.” He said but didn’t stop me from standing up. I had to support myself on his shoulder and he let me. He still looked worried but helped me to the door of the room. He opened it for me and helped me to the living room of his apartment. Two heads turned around at the sound of the door opening and I saw Sungmin and Hangeng looking surprised at seeing me.

“Donghae!” Sungmin exclaimed happily and stood up from the couch but fell silent right after. 

“Where is he?” I asked them as I couldn’t see a trace of Hyukjae. They all shared a look of concern before Hangeng spoke. 

“He’s not here, Donghae. He’s down in his world.”

My stomach fell and my heart skipped a beat. “He didn’t come back here?” All three of them shook their heads. Silence fell in the room and I leaned even harder on Heechul. He walked me to the couch and forced me to lie down on my back. 

“Sungmin, please go make something easy for him to eat.” Heechul told Sungmin, who nodded silently and left the room. Heechul sat on the armrest of the chair Hangeng sat on. They whispered something using the language I didn’t know.

“Why can’t you let me know what you’re talking about?” I asked tiredly and closed my eyes. “How do you know each other anyway?”

“Hangeng’s my old fuck.” Heechul said bluntly. I smirked at hearing this. Heechul was getting more comfortable now and even made those lame jokes. But apparently it wasn’t a joke as I hear a loud smack.

“YAH! That’s the truth!” He yelled at Hangeng who didn’t say anything. I opened my eyes and turned my head slightly so I could see them. They were glaring at each other and I could definitely say that they really had a shared past. 

“But… how is that possible? Hangeng was there when Kibum had me…locked up. Hangeng's like Hyuk...”

They turned to look at me. It was time for Hangeng to grin whereas Heechul became serious. “You should probably confess something, Chul.” Hangeng told Heechul who made a face at him. I waited patiently for Heechul to turn back to me.

“Me and Hangeng have known each other since forever. We’re both kinda related to Hyukjae and he’s the reason we two met. Hangeng is the son of Hyukjae’s father’s cousin, whereas my mother was the sister of Hyukjae’s mother. So I’m Hyuk’s cousin whereas he’s the little cousin from the other side of the family.”

“So you’re also… one of them?” I questioned.

“Yeah… although I don’t possess any powers like Hangeng and Hyuk. Hangeng has his powers because he’s part of the blood line of the Devils.” Once again Heechul made a face at Hangeng.

“Don’t play with me, Heechul.” Hangeng warned the other one but Heechul just laughed at told him to cool down.

Sungmin joined us and placed a tray on the coffee table. The smell of noodle soup filled my nose and suddenly my stomach growled, loudly. Everyone laughed at me while I felt my cheeks redden.

Sungmin offered me the cup and with a spark in his eyes, asked me if he needed to feed me. I groaned and told him I could handle myself.

“So, are you also one of them?” I asked Sungmin with my mouth full of soup. 

“No I’m not. Just a boring human, just like you.” 

“Although he has been to the other world.” Heechul added and earned another smack on the back of his head from Hangeng.

“What? Why?” 

“I made a deal with the previous Devil…” Sungmin muttered. I was about to choke to the noodles. 

“You did what?”

“I almost ended up selling myself to him. I wanted to save someone close to me.” He smiled faintly. “Fortunately Hyukjae got there on time to save me. He made me see the world in a different light. Death is part of our lives and we have to accept it.”

“Who did you want to save? Hyuk never told me, no matter how hard I begged.” Heechul asked Sungmin. 

“The only place where you’ve ever begged anything is on a bed, right under me .” Hangeng laughed. 

“Enough information there, thank you very much.” Sungmin said bluntly. I tried to stop myself from laughing but the expression on Heechul’s face made me lose it. First he looked horrified but then he looked like he was ready to murder Hangeng right then and there.

 

I looked at the clock on the wall above one of the paintings of Heechul’s bedroom. It was past 3am already. Sungmin had bit us good bye and left about an hour ago. Heechul had tucked me in before telling me he’d go to sleep. He told me Hangeng would be up all night in case something happened. The whole apartment was dead silent. I couldn’t even hear Hangeng moving in the apartment. 

And I just couldn’t sleep. No matter how hard I tried to stop it, Hyukjae’s image arouse in my mind time after time. I missed him and worried over him. Was he alright? 

My heart ached and a few tears escaped my eyes but I hurriedly wiped them away. I needed to use the toilet. And maybe a glass of water would help me to fall asleep…

I got up and quietly walked to the door. I tried my best to keep it quiet and managed to sneak to the living room without a sound. 

“Something wrong?” I seriously jumped. Hangeng was standing right behind me and as I turned around I found myself staring into bright gray eyes that were almost white. 

“N-no. Just couldn’t sleep.” I stuttered. He nodded and lead me to the bathroom and switched on the light. I washed my face with cold water and stared into the mirror. I could barely recognize myself. I had lost a lot of weight. I had never been fat but neither had I ever been muscular. And now all the body fat had been used up. Also the small muscles had faded. I looked like a living skeleton.

I found Hangeng leaning on the wall next to the bathroom door. The way he looked after me made me feel uneasy. He followed me to the kitchen, gave me the glass and even opened the fridge for me. I took out the bottle of water. 

“Good night, Donghae.” Hangeng said. He stayed in the doorway as I climbed under the covers. He had almost closed the door when I realized I wanted his company.

“Wait-“ I whispered. “Please stay.” 

Silently he closed the door and walked to the chair next to the bed. I reached out for the lamp and turned it on as he sat down.

I had to arrange my question in my head before I voiced it. “What exactly is wrong with Hyukjae?” 

“He lost control of himself.” Hangeng said. He clearly wanted to change the subject but I wouldn’t let him. I had to know.

“I know there’s something more. Don’t try to keep it from me.”

“Donghae–“ I gave him a stern look, telling him I was dead serious about this. He sighed and leaned back in the chair. “He lost himself and cannot regain control over his powers. Together with Heechul, Youngwoon and Jungsoo we were able to transport you here without him noticing it. Otherwise it would’ve been impossible to save you and it would’ve eventually killed Hyukjae also.” He paused and looked closely at me. I didn’t know how he expected me to react.

I was surprised myself by the fact that I actually stayed calm and listened to his every word. 

“There’s a protecting shield surrounding this apartment, which is why either one of us, me or Heechul, has to be awake at all times. Hyuk cannot find you as long as the shield is complete. But we can’t keep it up forever.”

“How long can you keep it up then?” I asked.

“I don’t know. I’m a lot more powerful than Heechul is and I have to lend my powers for him when I’m asleep.” He noticed how confused I was. “It basically means that the shield is kept up by my powers only. And I cannot lend my powers for Heechul for long. I’d say we’re able to keep this shield up for a week, maybe a few days more if we’re lucky.”

I nodded. “But if Hyukjae finds us, he will break the shield and then we’re all in danger. Fortunate for you, his other side seems to be as possessive over you as his true self. So you’ll be somewhat safe… If he takes you back to our world though, I cannot guarantee your safety. What comes to me and Heechul, we’ll probably get killed by him if he finds us and hasn’t regained control over his powers.”

I shuddered at the thought of Hyukjae attacking Heechul and Hangeng. Would he really be able to kill them?

“Wait, what about Kibum?” I asked suddenly. Hangeng had already been serious, but the look in his eyes became even darker than it had been before. I became anxious to hear his answer.

“He’s dead, Donghae.” My mouth fell open.

“How?”

The look in his eyes told me enough. “I’m sorry, Donghae.”

“No. No, he couldn’t…”

“Try to sleep, Donghae. It’s been a rough day for you.”

“I don’t understand…” I murmured to myself. Hangeng sighed but I ignored him and stared into emptiness. My Hyukjae, my lover and savior… Had he really killed his own brother?

“Try to understand that he’s not himself. I don’t believe he would’ve done it if he had been himself.”


	12. Return

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning: extreme violence, not sure how it'll end ;)

It had been a week already since they had brought me back. Heechul and Hangeng had forced me to stay inside the apartment the whole time. They had gone as far as putting an extra lock on the door that I couldn’t open without the key that only Heechul had access to. 

“Heechul~!” I growled at him when he once again told me to stay inside. “I have to get out! I’m going nuts! I need fresh air!”

“Hey kid, want to keep us all alive, huh?” I fell silent. “Thank you. Now, stay here. Watch TV or jerk off, I don’t care. Just stay here and don’t do anything stupid.” 

“Argh… I hate you two!” I yelled at him as he closed the front door behind him. There was nothing interesting coming on the TV…and I really didn’t feel like jerking off either. 

Heechul had woken Hangeng up just a moment before he left. Said he had some business to do although it was already getting late. But Hangeng still hadn’t come out of the bedroom. I expected him to have fallen asleep again so I decided to go and wake him up once more. 

I knocked gently on the door and when I didn’t hear him answer me, I opened it. The curtains had been drawn in front of the window and the room was completely dark.

“Hangeng, you need to wake up.”

“Hyuk, go to the living room. Lock the door behind yourself.” His voice didn’t come from the direction of the bed. I could faintly see his form standing by the window. I wanted to question him, but my gut told me to do as he said.

I backed away and locked the door after myself. I took a few steps backwards but never took my eyes from the door. I had to call Heechul. I searched for my phone that Sungmin had brought me from our old apartment. I turned over all the pillows on the couch, I looked under it and under the chairs, I ran to the kitchen but my phone was nowhere to be found. 

I must’ve left it in the bedroom. Damn it!

The apartment had gone completely silent. I froze on my feet in the kitchen as I realized just how still everything seemed to be. As if the air had stilled.

Right after the realization of how the whole apartment was abnormally quiet, the door of Heechul’s bedroom shattered in pieces and Hangeng fell on the floor of the living room. I yelped before I could control my reflexes. But when I understood what I had just done, I hid under the kitchen table.

Hangeng was growling something using the language I couldn’t understand. From what I had understood it was an ancient language of their world and only a few of them spoke it anymore. Hangeng had learned it from his grandfather, Hyukjae’s uncle, whereas Heechul had learned it from Hyukjae and his father. I wished I had known the language also as I would then be able to keep up with their conversations.

Hangeng continued yelling in the language. I heard things smashing and breaking. Heechul would be so frigging pissed off when he arrived and found his apartment being destroyed. 

Hangeng grew silent and for a horrifying moment I feared for the worst. But then I heard him groan, obviously in pain. I tried to listen carefully to what exactly was going on in the other room.

“Don’t go there!” Hangeng suddenly yelled. Slowly I turned my head to the direction of the doorway of the kitchen. And I saw a pair of familiar shoes standing right in front of me. The table was lifted up and carefully put down again, only this time it wasn’t covering me at all.

I stared into Hyukjae’s flaming eyes. An odd mixture of feelings overwhelmed me. I was scared and relieved at the same time.

“Hyukjae…” 

He continued to look at me without saying a word as I carefully stood up. I never broke the eye contact with him.

“Hyuk, please. I–“ I stopped midway. I understood now what Hangeng had meant when he said Hyukjae wasn’t himself. The powers were controlling his body, not he. “Please, come back for me. It’s alright now…"

He shook his head and closed his eyes. “No, I can’t let that happen.” The familiar low voice spoke. His powers spoke to me.

“Why not?” I asked. I saw Hangeng dragging himself to the doorway but he seized when he saw me looking at him. His arm was bleeding badly and there were bruises and cuts in his face also. He shook his head to me, telling me not to pay attention to him. Hyukjae, fortunately, didn’t pay any attention to him either. “Can you then explain me what happened? Please?” I hurried to add.

“He’s not ready yet. He needs more time.” Hyukjae spoke cautiously. But who, who needed more time? I almost asked him, but then the realization hit me. If that was his powers talking to me, then the powers referred to Hyukjae. 

“What – what do you want me to do?”

“To be honest, I’m not sure. I cannot take you back, obviously. I cannot put you at risk.”

“You cannot stay here either.” Hangeng spoke with hoarse voice. Hyukjae twisted around and Hangeng fell on the floor with a pained whimper. I stared at the scene with wide eyes but forced myself to stand by. The last thing I should do now was to interfere.

“I stay if I feel like it.” Hyukjae spoke, still looking at Hangeng, who cried out in pain. I couldn’t breathe until Hyukjae released Hangeng, who stayed silent. I snapped my eyes from Hangeng and forced a carefree expression on my face although I was feeling everything else but carefree. “And I want to spend some lone time with my husband here.”

Hangeng groaned and tried to stand up but fell on the floor again. Hyukjae paid him no mind but instead looked hungrily at me. 

“Hyukjae..?” I asked him warily when he took a hold of my hand. He said nothing as he tucked me closer to himself, gave me a heated look and pulled me towards the bedroom. He stepped over Hangeng, pulling me along. I glanced over my shoulder at Hangeng, who was silently pleading me not to go. He wasn’t asking for me to stay for him, but for myself.

“Hyuk - Hyuk listen to me!” Hangeng groaned and forced himself to sit on his heels on the floor. Hyukjae stopped and turned around. He pushed me behind his back but I could still see Hangeng’s painful expression. “He’s not ready.”

“He looks ready enough to me.” And with that Hyukjae pushed me into the bedroom. He shoved me towards the bed, told me to sit tight. He then turned to face the doorway and I stared in awe as the pieces of wood became one again and then the door was on its place like it wouldn’t have been broken at all.

When the door was back to where it had been Hyukjae turned to look at me. The fire in his eyes never faded as he took a couple of long strides and was quickly right in front of me. He cupped my face into his hands.

“Hyukjae, please. Come back.” I whispered. I tried to find him behind those flaming eyes. I knew he was there somewhere, somewhere hidden.

“The truth is, you aren’t well enough.” Well that was something I had not expected to hear from him! 

“But…didn’t you just say–“

“I did.” 

“I don’t understand.”

“And you never will.” The harsh look in his flaming eyes softened, but only slightly. “Sleep, Donghae. I will stay here for the night.”

“Please, can I see Hyukjae?” I asked him as he gently pushed me down on the bed. His actions were in conflict with how he was supposed to be. I was confused beyond everything. 

His eyes flickered, the flames faded but the orange glow remained. He smiled faintly at me and petted my hair with smooth touches. “You need to sleep, Donghae.” He was back to himself.

“Hyuk~” I reached out for him and pulled him down. His lips touched mine. I was desperate and worried but all I cared for at the moment was that I had got my husband back. He answered my desperation with passion and pushed my body down under his own. 

“Shh… don’t speak.” He whispered against my lips. I had missed his own voice so much. His own, soft and gentle voice full of love and caring. 

A bang on the door interrupted our moment. I whined at the loss of Hyukjae’s touch. I opened my eyes and immediately regretted it. The flames of his eyes had returned and he was gone again. Another bang on the door and screams of Heechul’s voice made me look first at the door and then to Hyukjae.

“Hyuk! Let us in!” Heechul yelled and yet another bang on the door was heard. I watched Hyukjae sit up on top of me, taking a quick look at the door before looking back to me.

“Hyukjae, goddamnit!” It was Sungmin’s voice. The look in Hyukjae’s eyes became dangerous.

“No, Hyuk. Listen to me!” I yelped when he stood up but the look in his eyes told me not to make a move if I didn’t want to get hurt. With fearful eyes I watched him walk to the door, open it and close it right behind himself. The moment the door closed I jumped up and ran to it. 

It was locked. I called for Hyukjae, tried the handle over and over again, hit the door with my fists, but the door didn’t buckle. 

Sound of a fight carried through the door and my knees felt weak when I heard Sungmin cry out. He didn’t have any powers, Heechul barely had any and even Hangeng couldn’t match Hyukjae’s powers. And I was locked here in this bloody room. I couldn’t help them even if I wanted.

“Hyukjae! Let me out!” I screamed but I had a feeling that no one heard me. “Hyukjae!” I had to do something. I couldn’t sacrifice my friends and I couldn’t let Hyukjae harm them any more than he had already done.

A scary idea flashed in my mind. Since me and Hyukjae were hopefully still connected, I could stop him. It just needed me to do something I had already once tried. 

The sounds of the fight came to an abrupt stop. I jerked away from the door as it flew open, revealing an angry Hyukjae standing behind it. “Don’t you even dare to think of that option.” He growled dangerously. I swallowed audibly and backed away from him as his furious gaze bored holes on my body. I should’ve remembered how Hyukjae could get into my head…

“It’s the only way to stop this…” I heard myself murmuring and clamped a hand over my mouth. Shit, why did I have to have an autonomic mouth?!

“Is it?” Hyukjae asked and crept closer, his eyes flaming more than before. “Think, Donghae. Your mind is now blank as a white sheet of paper.” He was mocking me.

My back hit the wall but Hyukjae kept on coming closer. “S-stop this, Hyuk…” I pleaded but he ignored it completely. A painful, invisible, hold of my arm made me turn around. My body was slammed against the wall hard enough to knock me out. But I struggled to stay conscious. 

“Is this what you felt like doing? You wanted to hurt yourself so you could hurt me?” Hyukjae’s low voice thundered in the room. It was hard for me to breathe as the hold of my arm pushed me against the wall. “Were you really ready to do that for your ‘friends’?” 

My mind reacted automatically to his last question. One single word arose in my head and it was enough to upset Hyukjae even more. He growled in agony and dropped me on the floor. I fell down face first but I turned around as fast as I could. I saw Hyukjae crouching on the floor while gripping his head with both of his hands. And he was groaning silently. 

“He’s struggling with his powers.” Hangeng’s voice made me jump a little. The man was leaning on the doorframe. He looked weak and his shirt was covered in blood. I wasn’t sure if it was his own or someone else’s. Hangeng’s eyes weren’t looking at me but were locked in Hyukjae’s body. I also turned my head to him. I could practically feel the pain Hyukjae was going through. 

“Your bonding is getting weaker, which drives his other side insane.” Hangeng spoke again but coughed hard right after that. “It would help him… but you’re still too weak.”

My eyes were wide as I forced myself to look at Hangeng. He was now looking directly into my eyes, measuring me. 

“I – I can do it.” I told him after gathering my courage. I don’t know where I got the courage from, but I was confident now. For once I knew I was right about what I had to do. And it would probably save Hyukjae and the others. 

If they were still alive, that is.

Hangeng nodded before slumping down on his knees. I watched him struggle back on his feet and disappear behind the corner again. I gulped. I had to know if Sungmin and Heechul were alright… but I knew Hyukjae would react immediately if I moved even an inch. 

I stared at Hyukjae’s back. He was shaking, his hands were still clutching his head, and small groans and whimpers left his mouth. “Hyuk?” I tried to hide the worry from my voice although I knew he could smell it. He could tell how freaked out I was.

“I’m not going away. I won’t do anything to hurt myself.” I spoke as I got on my feet and took the few steps needed to be standing right next to him. I placed my hand on his shoulder, unsure of how he’d react. I’m not sure whether I should’ve been relieved or worried since he didn’t show any kind of a reaction, but I began rubbing circles on his back.

“On the bed. Now.” His low voice spoke almost robotically. I hurriedly did as he told, got rid of my shirt and laid down on the bed. I waited for him to move but when he stayed still in the position I had left him, I propped myself up on my elbows. 

“Hyuk?” 

He didn’t answer me but stood up and walked to close the door. His movements were stiff and his whole body looked tense in an odd way. Once the door was closed he turned around and came closer to me. The room was now completely dark as the light from the living room couldn’t get in through the doorway. 

I lied back down, anticipating. Only when he was standing right next to the bed did I realize that the flames in his eyes had faded completely. His eyes weren’t back to normal though, but glowed in orange. I actually missed that soft and warm glow. It was a sign of his control although it wasn't certain if he could maintain it.

He pulled his shirt over his head before crawling on the bed. He straddled my body, placing his hands on either side of my head while his knees were just beside my hips. It was harder than I thought to keep myself sane as I looked into his eyes. Just to make it even harder, my body seemed to react according to its own, seeking for the heat Hyukjae’s body could provide. 

Without a word, Hyukjae sat up on me, letting his eyes roam around on my naked upper body. His heated look made my cheeks burn and I had to fight the urge to turn my head away.

He switched the weight of his body on his other leg and proceeded to remove my sweatpants. He didn’t let me keep my boxers on either as he tucked them off along with the pants. My already hardening cock jumped happily as Hyukjae’s hungry eyes moved pass it and my mind was racing. 

“I missed your body so much.” He finally whispered. His low voice was husky with lust and want and it made an involuntary whine leave my lips.


	13. Explanations

It was hard for me to cope with Hyukjae. He used my body far more violently than what I had expected. Days went in a haze. He used me, let me sleep and when I woke up, he’d use me again. A couple of days ago he had brought me to our old apartment. I was slightly surprised it hadn’t been sold yet. I guess no one wants to live in an apartment where someone had disappeared from and the other one tried to commit suicide. I know I wouldn’t buy an apartment like that…

Hyukjae was sitting at the end of the bed when I cracked my eyes open. My whole body ached, especially my backside. He had been cruel the last time we had sex. Dry sex with no lube or preparations, sadistic spanking, small cuts made with a pocket knife… 

I never enjoyed the pain during the sex, and neither did Hyukjae enjoy hurting me. At least he wasn’t into that kind of stuff before his transformation. 

“You’re awake.” He stated bluntly. The look in his orange eyes was distant. I nodded as a response and prepared myself for what would come next. Like many times before, he would come closer to me, force me into the most vulnerable and humiliating positions he would come up with and then fuck me heartlessly. 

“I’m leaving.”

“What?” I jumped up. “What do you mean ‘leaving’?”

I watched as he stood up. Did he mean he was going to go back to the other world? To the world I couldn’t follow him? A nod from him told me I was right. He would really leave me.

“Why?” 

“I have some things to sort out.”

“But–“ But what? Was I really going to ask him why he didn’t take me with him? Obviously I wasn’t in a good enough condition to be taken back there. Or was I going to ask him about the ‘things’ he mentioned? What things? 

I mean, of course he had to have some business to do as the Devil… but why did he come to think about those responsibilities like this, all of a sudden?

“I will be back. You won’t even notice I was gone.”

I huffed at him. “I think I’ve heard that before…” 

A warning fire flamed in his eyes but faded again. I sighed. “Can I see him? Just one more time before you leave me again?”

It happened faster than before. The orange glow in his eyes darkened and finally the brown color of his eyes met me. I smiled happily at the fast action and pushed myself up so I was standing on my knees on the edge of the bed. I wrapped my hands around his torso and tucked him into a tight hug. I smiled as he answered my hug and felt his warm hands on my naked back.

“I’m sorry, Donghae…” He whispered. He sounded like he was about to cry. I looked up at him without releasing my hold. He really was about to burst into tears. 

“Don’t be.” I tried to comfort him. “Just come back to me, okay?”

“I just… I’m too weak to fight it. I’ve been trying to break through it but it won’t let me control myself.” Hyukjae mumbled and leaned down to kiss my hair. “I’m not sure if I can handle it. I don’t know if it’ll ever let me take the full control.”

“But Hyuk–” I pulled him towards the bed and made him sit down next to me. “–from what I’ve understood, your father could control the powers. He didn’t struggle like you do. So I’m sure you can control the powers. You just have to find the right way to do it.”

“Donghae-ah…” 

“Don’t worry about me. Right now you have to concentrate on yourself.”

Finally Hyukjae seemed to understand my point. “Sungmin and Heechul are alright. Hangeng is taking care of Heechul and Sungmin’s still in the hospital. I beat him rather badly and his body isn’t like ours. His body got all messed up because of the forces I used.” 

I swallowed. I hadn’t heard anything of them since the day Hyukjae attacked us and broke the shield Hangeng and Heechul had been holding up. The last thing I remembered from that night was the bleeding Hangeng telling me about the weakening bonding between me and Hyukjae. And ever since then me and Hyukjae had been busy making that bonding stronger. If you know what I mean…

“I’ll let Hangeng know that I’m going now. I’ve had a shield keeping them away, in case you wondered why they hadn’t tried to contact us.”

In fact, I had thought about that. I snorted at Hyukjae’s attempt to hide the fact that he had read my every thought while his powers had been in control. 

“Sorry, I tried not to read your thoughts…” 

We sat there for a moment. I kept my arms around him while he pulled me closer to himself. I could hear him breathe in my scent and a small, pleased moan escaped his lips. 

“Do I smell that good?” 

“It’s just nice to smell something positive after the stink of fear and hurt.” Hyukjae muttered into my hair. I hummed in agreement – it was really much more pleasant to feel the comfort of my real husband’s presence than to see his other side controlling him.

 

“Donghae!” Hangeng screamed into the door buzz. I smiled weakly and pressed the button that opened the door for him. I left the door of our apartment slightly ajar and went back to the living room. The coffee table was still shattered but I didn’t really care. I was still high in happiness for seeing Hyukjae, the real him, before he left.

Hangeng stormed in, straight to the living room where he found me sitting on the couch with one knee pulled close to my chest. He stopped and lifted his eyebrows in question.

“What happened?”

“He left.” I told him simply, still smiling happily. 

“That’s not what I meant.” Hangeng muttered and gave a pointed look towards the shattered coffee table.

“Oh!” I exclaimed as I understood what he meant. “That happened before he left me. I mean, when he received his powers.”

Hangeng mouthed a silent ‘ok’ before he went to close the door that he had left wide open. When he came back, he was missing his jacket and shoes and seemed much more relaxed as he sat on the couch next to me.

For a moment neither of us said anything. I was the one to break the silence. “How are they?”

“Sungmin will be able to go home tomorrow. Heechul’s just… fucking pissed off.” He answered with a forced laugh.

“What really happened? Hyuk locked me in the bedroom, so… All I saw was you bleeding and by the looks of it, it didn’t really look like something small.”

“Heechul didn’t know Hyukjae had found us before he came home and unfortunately had Sungmin with him. Like we told you before, Sungmin knew about us, but he’s still a human.” Hangeng gave me a look. “You humans are much more vulnerable than we are.”

“Hyukjae said something like that.” I agreed. 

“Hyukjae seems to be much more comfortable with using the mental powers than the physical powers he possesses. Me and Heechul are able to handle them, at least physically, but it’s very different when it comes to you and Sungmin. Sungmin’s body reacted physically, which took us all by surprise.”

“What do you mean?” I was getting really scared. What kind of mental powers could cause humans to react physically? And what powers was he talking about anyway?

“Hyukjae can make you feel pain even though there’s nothing hurting you. Illusions. He can mess up your nervous system and thus you feel or see things that aren’t really there.” I was staring at him, not really understanding how it worked. I guess he didn’t know that either. “So basically he just stood there and watched us suffer without touching us, physically. But Sungmin’s body kind of broke. He started bleeding by the force of his mind. There were cuts on his skin, some of them were deep and he bled really badly. But fortunately they weren’t fatal. Just painful.”

I nodded slowly, trying to understand what he was trying to explain me. “But he’s going to be alright, isn’t he?”

“He’s just a bit shaken.”

“And what about you and Heechul?”

“I’m here, aren’t I?” There was an amused sparkle in the corner of his eyes. I gave him a not-so-amused glare. “Heechul’s just angry at Hyukjae. Hyuk threw him to the walls a few times when he tried to attack him physically. Heechul’s never been attacked like that before.”

“And you have?”

“I- well…” He paused. I was surprised to see him quiet down in the middle of the sentence. “I have been in a situation like that before.” Hangeng spoke slowly.

“What happened?” I couldn’t help the curiosity. 

“It happened when my father and Hyukjae’s father were, let’s say, having some disagreements over things. The Devil snapped and I tried to help my father. I did the best I could, but it wasn’t enough. My father got killed in the fight. I survived but only barely. It’s all thanks to Hyukjae that I’m still alive.” 

“Oh… I’m sorry for your father.” 

“Don’t be. He was a jerk anyway.” Hangeng laughed dryly. I hummed, not really knowing what to say.

“How did Hyukjae help you then?” 

“You’re a curious one, aren’t you?” Hangeng laughed and ruffled my hair. I playfully slapped his hand away.

“He stood in between us, me and his own father. He knew his father wouldn’t be able to attack again if he was on the way.” He gave me a grin. “I know, it sounds really cheesy.” 

“It really does.” I admitted and replied his grin with one of my own. It felt really good to see Hangeng smile like that, after all that had happened. And reason to smile also made me feel a lot better also.

“As ironic as it may sound, I moved to live with Hyukjae’s family.”

“Why? After his father almost killed you?” I exclaimed. “What happened to your mother?”

“She had died when giving birth to me. Much like Hyuk’s mom did when she gave birth to Kibum.”

“I know how hard it can be.” I muttered and found myself staring at the spot where our wedding photo had been hanging. I wondered where it was now.

“I heard you had hard time with your parents?”

“They never accepted our relationship, not to mention our marriage.” I told him bluntly. Somehow I felt like I’d become numb to the whole subject. “They had always had high hopes for me and my future, but it all went wrong the day I came out of the closet.” He looked at me with confused look in his eyes. “I mean, when I told them I was gay.”

A warm smile spread on Hangeng’s face. He was quiet for a moment and just when I was about to ask him about the smile, he asked me a question I couldn’t comprehend. “What if I told you that your wedding photo is now hanging on the wall of your parents’ bedroom in Mokpo?” 

My mouth fell all open. He laughed at my reaction but I could only gape at him. “You’re kidding, right?”

“Nope.” He smiled even wider. “They were ready to arrange a memorial for both of you when you ‘killed’ yourself. They really thought you had done it although your body was never found.”

“Wait.” I just realized something rather important. “How long has it been since Kibum ‘saved’ me?”

“I’m not all that familiar with the way time runs here, but Sungmin said something about you been missing for over a year. Whatever it then means.” Hangeng shrugged. I slumped deeper into the couch cushions. Over a year! 

“I need a calendar.” I grunted and pushed myself up. But as soon as I was on my feet I remembered there was no calendar on the door of the fridge, I didn’t have my phone nor was our laptop still in the apartment. Cursing I dropped back down on the couch. 

“I must admit that when taking into consideration everything you’ve been through, you’re coping better than I would’ve ever expected.” Hangeng said suddenly, interrupting my annoyed thoughts. 

“I haven’t had much of a choice, now have I?” I spat but regretted the moment the words slipped from my mouth. “Sorry.” 

“It’s alright. I don’t mind, you have every right to be upset. You’ve been through much more than a human should ever be.” 

 

Hangeng stayed the whole night with me. Although I was pretty sure nothing bad or unexpected would happen, he seemed to have an eye on me, constantly. He didn’t walk behind me wherever I went but I could all the time feel his eyes on me. And I was getting tired of it.

“Hangeng.” I walked into the living room where he was dozing off – at least he looked like that. He hummed, telling me he heard me. “You don’t really need to baby sit me like this.” I tried to sound like it wasn’t a big thing, like it didn’t bother me. But it really did.

“I know.” He said without paying any more attention to me. I rolled my eyes at him left the room. “By the way, Heechul’s on his way here. He’ll be ringing the buzzer at any moment.”

“Great.” I huffed. “I hope he brings something to eat with him.” 

And like a miracle, the buzzer rang. I opened the door for Heechul, and waited for him to run up the stairs. He was faster than I expected.

“You better have food with you.” I snarled at him and my stomach accompanied me.

Heechul grinned and shoved a bag of McDonald’s take away junk. “Seriously?” I asked him in disbelief. “I asked for food.”

“You better to settle with what you get. It’s a tough world.” Heechul teased me. I shook my head at him but took him to the living room. He sat on the couch next to Hangeng and gave a loud kiss on the other’s cheek. Hangeng scoffed at Heechul but then smiled warmly. 

I stared at the two, my eyes trying to decide whether to look at Hangeng or Heechul. “Why do you look like shit?” I asked Heechul. He was stunned, I could tell, and I hurried to explain my outrageous question. “I didn’t mean it like that! I just… There’re no signs of battle on Hangeng whereas you have bruises and cuts all over you.”

Hangeng looked a little shocked whereas Heechul turned to a dark shade of red. I wasn’t sure if I had said something wrong, but Heechul lightened me. “I just can’t heal as fast as this bastard.” He said and pointed Hangeng with his thumb. Hangeng snapped his teeth shut just in front of the offending finger, earning a squeal from Heechul. 

“But hey, you don’t look that bad yourself.” Heechul said and turned his attention to me. I shrugged. I guess I was looking well enough after all that physical…exercise. “And when I say that, I really mean it.” 

“Chul, stop bullying him.” Hangeng scolded the smiling Heechul. I shook my head with a smile as I reached for the bag Heechul had brought me. My stomach was growling all the time louder and louder and it was making me drool after the junk that was just waiting to be eaten.

As I ate and listened to Heechul telling us about Sungmin’s condition, I noticed Heechul’s bag on the floor next to the couch. He had something big and solid in there. I didn’t want to sound rude again after the question I exclaimed but I couldn’t help my eyes wandering over the bag over and over again. Hangeng noticed this. I can’t believe how well he noticed my every movement – it’s creepy!

He interrupted Heechul’s blabbering by shoving his elbow on Heechul’s side. It looked painful which Heechul loudly informed to Hangeng. I gulped as Hangeng nodded towards the bag on the floor and Heechul mouthed a silent ‘oh’.

“I forgot that completely!” He exclaimed and reached for the bag. It looked heavy. “I collected this from the room we found you from.” He said and pulled out the old book with black cover. My heart stopped as Heechul offered the book to me. I thanked him, them, as I took the heavy book from Heechul. 

“You know what that is?” Hangeng asked curiously. 

“Hyukjae gave it to me when he left to visit his cousin. Kibum told me how to read it.”

“Well that’s surprising. Why did Kibum help you to read it when he wanted to break your bonding?” Heechul asked with wide eyes. Both, me and Hangeng lifted our shoulders. I really had no idea.

“Weird… Kibum was always weird.” Heechul said with odd coldness in his voice. Hangeng nodded stiffly but changed the subject rather quickly.

“What did Hyuk write you?” He asked and motioned to the book in my lap. 

I smiled and opened the front page. Heechul was fast to act and looked for a pen from his bag. Soon he found one and gave it to me. “He told me about his life before we met, but I couldn’t finish it before…” I let the sentence be unfinished. We all knew what I meant. I just wasn’t ready to voice out how much Kibum had hurt me. Although I appeared healthy and well, I certainly wasn’t feeling like that. And I knew I wouldn’t be completely whole before Hyukjae came back.

“I’d like to know what he tells about me.” Heechul chuckled. “He always thought I was sick or something for being this pretty.” 

Hangeng scoffed at the comment.

“I never reached that part of the book.” I grinned widely at Heechul’s expression as he faked to be shocked by the fact that he hadn’t been mentioned so far in the book. “But there is one thing in the book that has been bothering me.” Their eyes encouraged me to continue when I hesitated. “Hyuk mentioned that they had many butlers and maids when he was a child, but there were only the three of us when I was there. What happened to the servants?”

Heechul snarled and stood up from the couch. “Where’s the bathroom?” I pointed at the right door and watched him march in and slam the door shut right behind him.

“What was that about?” I asked Hangeng who was also looking at the door of the bathroom.

“His mother was one of the maids of the previous Devil.” Hangeng muttered softly. “They were all exiled when the Devil was getting weaker, closer to death. He was afraid to have them there, to be honest. His powers were moving away from his body, transferring into Hyukjae, and thus he became vulnerable. And when he was vulnerable, the whole mansion would be vulnerable, including Kibum.”

“Oh… that makes sense.”

“And as you might’ve already figured, Heechul’s mother was exiled with all the others. No one knows where they are now.”


	14. Backfired

Three months passed faster than I thought they would. I had been busy with the police, trying to make a believable excuse for my disappearance…which I couldn’t have been able to do without the help of Hangeng, Heechul and Sungmin. I hadn’t seen Sungmin much though, as he was still going through the process of recovering and Kyuhyun wouldn’t let me any near of the apartment. You see, he blames me for what happened to Sungmin and I can’t really deny it. What would I tell Kyuhyun? He would never believe me and Sungmin seemed to want to keep it that way.

I missed Hyukjae as I watched snowflakes fall from the skies. It had been about two weeks since he paid us his last visit. His powers were still there, making it hard for him to maintain the control but he was doing way better now. The powers subsided every time he was alone with me, but whenever Hangeng or Heechul was around, his eyes would turn back to glowing orange although they wouldn’t flame anymore. 

“Are things ever going to be like they used to be?” I asked as I felt Hangeng come to stand right behind me. He offered me a cup of hot chocolate which I accepted with a smile. He had become more like a brother to me now that we had shared the apartment for three months or so. 

“I don’t think so.” He answered honestly. I appreciated it. “What’s that stuff?” He asked and pointed out of the window.

“What a nice way to change the topic.” I murmured under my breath. “It’s called snow. It’s basically like frozen water.” He nodded, understanding. I turned my back to the window and leaned on the windowsill while taking a sip from the chocolate. Hangeng on the other hand kept his attention on the small flakes slowly falling behind the window.

“What’s going to happen when Hyukjae dies?” I asked suddenly, a question that has been bothering me for a great while. Hangeng looked absolutely astonished. 

“What do you mean?” 

“I know I’m going to die also, but what happens to his powers? Obviously I can’t give him a son as an heir.”

Hangeng was quiet for a moment and took a long sip from his chocolate before he also turned his back to the window. “Youngwoon is then the closest to their family. He’ll gain the powers from Hyukjae.”

“But he’s living with a man also, isn’t he?” I questioned. “What will happen then?”

“Well… since both, Hyuk and Youngwoon’s families won’t have heirs, I think I’m the next in line.” He said quietly. 

“Do you want it?” I asked. A shiver went down my spine as the ridiculous fear flashed through my mind. Kibum had wanted the powers and had almost gotten me killed. I had trusted him and it had only gotten me into trouble, placing Hyukjae under the same pressure. 

“I know what you’re thinking. I can’t undo what Kibum did, no matter how much I wanted to.” He said firmly. “But I give you my word that I will never do anything like that. I do not want those powers to myself. I never wanted them to be given to Hyukjae either.”

I nodded and expected the conversation to be over. I pushed myself off the windowsill and thought of sitting on the couch with our new laptop that Heechul had kindly bought for us. But Hangeng spoke as I moved away from him. “Our bloodline is stained.”

“What do you mean?” I asked as I sat down and opened the lap top on my lap.

“Doesn’t it bother you how…human we all are? Me and Hyuk. You don’t know Youngwoon, but although he’s got a short temper, he’s just like us.”

“Human?” I asked and turned on the piece of electronics. 

“Soft.” I raised the other eyebrow at him. “Did it ever cross your mind that we should be somewhat ruthless and evil?”

“Err… I haven’t really thought about that.” I admitted and felt my cheeks burn. Of course they should be everything else than what they really were. They were from Hell, the Underworld, for god’s sake! But just like Hangeng said, they were all in a way too human to belong into the setting. 

“That happens when our race gets mixed with humans and the population of the world above.” He said with a small smile and moved to sit next to me.

“Wait, isn’t that man Youngwoon lives with from that world?” I asked curiously.

“That’s right, although Jungsoo isn’t a pure breed either. From what I’ve heard, his father was a human.”

“Well that’s confusing.”

“You bet.” Hangeng laughed warmly. “I guess we’re just messed up.”

“You’re damn right about that.” We both flinched on the couch at Hyukjae’s voice. He had taken up the habit of sneaking in without letting us know. The first time he had done that had been in one evening when I had been brushing my teeth in the toilet and suddenly seen him watching me through the mirror. I had almost choked on the toothpaste in my mouth.

“Have you already forgotten how to knock?” I scolded him playfully and turned to look at him. The happiness inside me increased when I realized I was looking into his brown eyes. “You’re back!” I exclaimed and ran to his open arms. 

He hugged me tight for a moment that was too short for my liking. I pouted at him and earned a grin and a kiss on my cheek. Hyukjae chuckled at my hurt expression as he knew I was faking it. 

“Actually, I came to see Heechul.” Hyukjae said and looked up at Hangeng. “I expected him to be here so I didn’t even bother to look for him.”

“He hasn’t been here in a few days.” Hangeng said but stopped to study Hyukjae for a moment. “What’s wrong?”

“I think Heechul knows where his mother is.” 

“What?” I asked and at the same time Hangeng demanded for an explanation. 

“It took me a while to track Heechul’s scent but he paid a visit to his old home. I’m pretty goddamn sure he has found something.”

“He hasn’t mentioned anything about it. I didn’t even know he had been there.” Hangeng muttered. I could hear the slight annoyance in his voice but he kept it hidden from his face. 

“Why, what’s wrong with him going home?” I asked with my eyebrows raised high. “Of course he’s trying to find his mother if she’s been forced to leave, it‘s natural!”

“You don’t understand the whole situation, Donghae.” Hyukjae told me gently yet with certain harshness in his tone of voice. “It is dangerous to go out there alone, which I’m afraid Heechul might do.”

“And we don’t know where exactly he's gonna go.” Hangeng added. 

“But can’t you just see into his head?” I asked Hyukjae but got back a look that told me just how naïve I was. 

“He’s too far from me and has the barriers that you don’t. Which reminds me, why haven’t you taught him to protect his mind?” Hyukjae asked Hangeng.

“He’s just recovering from his visit to our world, Hyukjae.” Hangeng surrendered but Hyukjae’s eyes flamed orange never the less. “I could start teaching him now that he has gained enough strength to do it.”

“There’s only one problem…” Hyukjae said quietly. He shared a stern look with Hangeng and for a moment neither of them said anything. I was getting impatient but didn’t dare to interrupt them. Hyukjae was having a conversation with Hangeng inside the latter one’s head, I was sure about it. I knew the look in his eyes as he did it. He had done the same thing to me many times before.

“Hyuk…” Hangeng said aloud in the middle of their conversation – or debate. Hangeng looked like the disagreed with what Hyukjae was telling him. 

“Could you please tell me what the fuck’s going on?” I demanded, getting tired of staring at them when they obviously weren’t going to tell me what they were talking about. And since they wanted to hide it from me, it had to be either something really bad or then it had something to do with me.

“No, Hyuk. You can’t take him back there.” Hangeng growled aloud. Yeap, they were talking about me. Hangeng just confirmed it. “Donghae’s just recovered and can’t handle going back this soon.”

“You can’t know that.” Hyukjae argued. His eyes were glowing in anger again but remaining brown-ish. 

“It took two years for Sungmin to recover completely. Why would Donghae be any different from him?” Hangeng crossed his arms over his chest. His eyes had begun to glow also.

“Yah! Don’t act like I wasn’t standing right here!” They both snapped their eyes to me. “Thank you.” I said through my gritted teeth. “Could one of you now explain?”

They shared a look before Hangeng spat something at Hyukjae in their ancient language and stormed past us. Hyukjae shook his head in annoyance as he watched Hangeng slam the front door shut. 

“What’s going on, Hyuk?” I asked and followed him as he went to sit down on the couch. The scene looked faintly familiar with him sitting on the couch and rubbing his hands on his face. 

“I can’t stay here. But I can’t stay away from you either.”

“And apparently you can’t take me with you?”

“Hangeng’s right. It could be too much for you as you’re just recovering.” He looked up at me with worried eyes. “I’ve become stronger now that I’ve been some time alone. I can control my powers a lot better now.” I smiled warmly and sat next to him. “But every time our bonding gets weaker, the powers get restless. And that’s a problem. I have to go find our butlers and it might take me a short eternity, if I’m lucky.”

“So basically you need me to come with you but that might be fatal for me?” He didn’t answer. He didn’t need to. “What’re we going to do?”

“I seriously don’t know.” Hyukjae said and pulled me into a tight hug. I clung to him like it was a matter of life or death. Which it actually was. 

“What could happen if our bonding faded?” I asked silently. I wasn't sure if I wanted to know really, but I knew I had to ask.

Hyukjae gulped loudly. “I don’t even want to think about it.” 

“Hyuk, tell me.” I begged and pushed up to be able to sit on my own. “I have to know.”

“There are two possibilities. Either we both die or we forget each other.”

“You mean, I wouldn’t even know you existed?” The thought itself was horrifying. He nodded without a word. “So either way, I might end up losing you, am I right?”

 

I couldn’t sleep that night. Hyukjae had brought me to bed, made love to me and fallen into a restless sleep. And when I said love making, I really meant it. It hadn’t been the same kind of sex we had had earlier. The passion and love were different. It felt like saying good bye…

“Donghae.” Hyukjae mumbled sleepily. I sighed and rolled onto my back to see him. He had his eyes closed but he was definitely waiting for me to do something. “Don’t over think everything.” His words melted together and it was hard to understand him but eventually I did.

“I just can’t get it out of my head.”

“Do you want me to help you?” He asked now with his eyes open. 

“How could you help me?” Confusion. That’s what he saw in my eyes. And even more if he read my mind.

He smiled faintly in the darkness. “I can erase those thoughts from your mind, give you something else to think about. But only if you want that.” He lifted his hand up, inviting me to come closer. I turned to cuddle in his arms and felt somewhat safer. But the thought of losing him was still haunting in the back of my mind.

“Can you make me fall asleep?” I asked. Sleep was the only place where I probably didn’t need to worry about the future. I felt him nod and soon noticed how empty my thoughts were. There were no thoughts of losing him, nor was there the fear of death anymore. My mind was blank and it didn’t take me long to fall asleep in Hyukjae’s arms.

 

I watched Hangeng argue with Hyukjae once again. Hyukjae had stayed here for two days, which was longer than before. He had usually left right after satisfying his own needs and strengthening our bonding. But the case was different now. Heechul had gone missing and both, Hangeng and Hyukjae, were certain he had gone back home to look for his mother.

“What do you mean you want to go alone?” Hyukjae screamed at Hangeng. They were giving each other death glares with gloving eyes. I, on the other hand, sat on the couch and watched them with a small smile on my face. 

“Have you ever seen how much you two are alike?” I asked them in amusement. They snapped their mouths shut and turned to glare at me. “There!” I giggled and pointed at them. “You’re like twins!”

“Donghae, could you please just shut up?” Hyukjae groaned but grinned, the glow in his eyes darkening a little. Hangeng took a deep breath and raked his hands through his hair.

“I promise to leave you two to continue your stupid argument if you listen to me first. How about that?” I suggested. Both of them rolled their eyes at me, which almost caused me to laugh aloud again. Hyukjae gave me a warning look as he probably smelled my amusement.

“I know you won’t let me come along with you, so I’m not even going to ask for it. But-“ I kept a meaningful pause. “I’m asking for you both to go. I’ll be alright while waiting for you.” 

I immediately saw from their faces that they were both going to disagree and abandon my suggestion. “I was alone for half a year! I don’t see why I wouldn’t be able to do it again?”

“Half a year and you almost got yourself killed. You think I’m going to let that happen again?” Hyukjae growled angrily, frustrated. He knew I was stubborn when I really wanted something but I also knew he wouldn’t give in easily. 

“I didn’t know if you’d ever come back. And I didn’t know anything about the situation! But now that I do know what’s going on I can handle the situation much better.” I insisted. “And besides, I have Sungmin still here with me. And now he doesn’t have to hide things from me and neither do I need to try and lie to him.”

They both looked lost. I had gotten my point clear and they apparently couldn’t fight me anymore. Finally Hangeng shook his head and patted Hyukjae on his back. 

“Looks like your mate has already made the decision.” Hyukjae groaned in agreement and I grinned.

“Will you really be alright?” Hyukjae asked me with worry clear in his voice. I stood up from the couch and in just a blink of an eye Hyukjae was standing right before me. I wrapped my arms around him and squished him hard.

“I will. If you feel like…something bad is about to happen, you know where to find me.” I smiled reassuringly at him. He knew I had meant our bonding. If it got too weak, Hyukjae would come back to me and strengthen it again. It would be that simple, at least I hoped so.

“Alright…” Hyukjae finally said and kissed the top of my head. “Ask Sungmin to teach you how to protect your mind. If something bad happens, at least you know how to protect your mind.”

“Sungmin knows how to do that?” I asked, surprised. 

“I taught that to him when he paid us a visit.” Hyukjae muttered with a faint smile. 

“I guess he stayed there longer than I thought.” 

“Let’s just say that he was there longer than you were. He would’ve probably died at any moment if we hadn’t brought him back here.”

I opened my mouth but closed it right away. There were things I didn’t know about Sungmin after all. Just when I had thought I knew him better now. 

 

I stepped into the cold air from the bus and without a second thought walked towards the tall apartment building before me. Snow was falling heavily from the sky and I tucked my jacket to protect my neck from the freezing wind. I tried to look for Kyuhyun’s car from the parking lot but couldn’t see the old Nissan. With a sigh of relief I ran through the parking lot to the door and hit the buzzer with Kyuhyun's apartment number on it.

“Who’s there?” I heard Sungmin’s voice asking. I told him my name and he opened the door for me. Kyuhyun lived in an old apartment building that didn’t have an elevator in it. And of course his apartment was on the 7th floor. Sungmin was staying at his place since he was still kind of weak and Kyuhyun refused to let him be alone. 

Sungmin was waiting for me by the door when I finally reached the right floor. He greeted me with a bright smile and let me in. 

“I hope you’re alone. I don’t really long for getting beaten up by Kyuhyun.” I joked as I kicked off my shoes. Sungmin grinned before turning around. I watched him as he slowly made his way to the living room. He had to support him to the wall and all the while kept one of his hands out in case he fell. I had spoken about it with Sungmin on the phone earlier but I never knew just how weak he really was.

“How’re you feeling?” I asked tenderly as he offered to make coffee for both of us. I told him not to bother, which he seemed to be relieved to hear. If I had thought I looked horrible after all I had been through, so did Sungmin. His skin that used to be perfectly smooth and spotless was now covered with scars.

“Been better, to be honest.” He said.

“I’m sorry.” It was devastating to see him in that shape. But he just shook his head.

“It’s not your fault.” He said smiling. “In fact, it’s no body’s fault. Things like these happen.” 

I let out a short laugh at the sarcasm in his words. “Oh, of course. It’s part of the everyday life to be attacked by the Devil.”

“Donghae, stop it.” 

“No, Sungmin. I really mean it. I’m really sorry for what happened.”

“Well, you better be.” Kyuhyun’s cold voice said from the front door. We hadn’t even noticed he had come back. My mouth closed with a snap and my whole body tensed up. Sungmin on the other hand looked tired. 

“Kyuhyun, please. Don’t blame him.” Sungmin pleaded his partner. Kyuhyun groaned loudly. 

“It’s his fault anyway.” Kyuhyun whispered and walked into the bedroom. I was surprised by the fact that he actually closed the door without a bang.

“Kyu~!” Sungmin cried weakly after him but when he had no answer he sighed deeply. “I’m sorry Donghae… He’s been like that ever since the day Hyukjae found us.”

“I understand. And I can’t blame him either.” I reassured him with a smile. I was telling him the truth. I did blame myself for what happened to him. I was the one to push these awful events rolling by trying to kill myself. I was the one who was too weak to go on without Hyukjae. Although I know now it might’ve partly been because of our mating bond had almost disappeared by then, but I was still weak.


	15. Blur

Half a year is a long time. I had changed quite a lot during that time. My previous boss had been glad to accept me back to work after Sungmin practically kissed his ass, but I quit it two weeks ago. I had lost my talent and I wasn’t satisfied with the shots I took. They were horrible, to be honest.

And my thoughts were all the time drifting off to Hyukjae. I wondered if he and Hangeng had been able to find Heechul and his mother and if they had managed to do everything and still stay in one piece.

But I definitely wasn’t the same anymore. I can’t remember when all this started… first alcohol and cigarettes, and then drugs. I had dyed my brown hair pitch black, added some bright red stripes and cut it shorter on the sides. My whole wardrobe has been renovated – every piece of clothing was now either black or dark shade of red, blue or grey.

I think I could describe my style to be gothic nowadays. I had changed thoroughly, but I still missed Hyukjae. I missed him to the point where I didn’t know how to handle the pain anymore. The drugs helped, soothing my nerves and dulling my mind.

The buzzer rang – I could only faintly hear it. I didn’t even bother to hide the white stuff on the new coffee table that I had bought from a flea market. I just stood up on my wobbly legs and dragged myself to the door.

I sighed as I heard Sungmin’s voice angrily telling me to open the door for him. He’d been ringing the buzzer every day for the past week or so. He had taught me to protect my mind a couple of months ago and I thought I could handle it alright, so I hadn’t really even bothered to keep in touch with him anymore. Seeing him only brought painful memories into my mind.

“I know you’re in there, Lee Donghae!” Sungmin yelled. Well, if he was so certain, I might as well just let him in. With a roll of my eyes, I opened the front door for him and left the door of our apartment – I still say it’s ours although only one person has been living there – slightly ajar. I didn’t wait for Sungmin by the door but went back to the living room.

“I swear to god, Donghae, I will rip your –“ He stopped midway. I turned my head enough to see him staring at the apartment, stunned. I admit I had been rather lazy to clean up… “–head off… What the hell has happened here?”

I shrugged and leaned back into the couch, closing my eyes and inhaling deeply. The drugs were starting to affect me and I let a soft smile spread on my face. I listened how  
Sungmin walked further into the room… and probably noticed the white powder on the table.

“Do not tell me that’s...”

“Cocaine.” I finished his sentence with a silly smile. With a yawn I opened my eyes and I laughed at his face. He was looking so worried over me. And without a reason! I was feeling better again now that I got my mind something else to do than to think of Hyukjae.

“Oh Donghae…” Sungmin said and shook his head. He dropped himself on the arm chair behind him and buried his face in his hands. “What have you done?”

“Nothing much.” I giggled but the look I received from Sungmin silenced me. “Look, you don’t need to worry about me.”

“Worry about you? I’m afraid for you, Donghae!” Sungmin sat up on the chair. “You think that will bring Hyukjae back to you sooner? He will come, he promised you so. What the hell are you thinking?!”

I shrugged. “Only Hyuk knows what’s running in my tiny head.”

“What do you think he’s going to say when he sees you in that state?”

“Sungmin…” I warned him, my anger flaring up.

“Even I barely recognize you. You’ve changed, Donghae.”

“And you think I don’t know that?!” I stood up, my fingers curled into fists and my arms shook with fury. Sungmin closed his mouth as soon as he had opened it. So I continued screaming at him: “You think this is easy for me? To just wait for him to come back and only cling to the hope that he really does?”

“I didn’t mea–“

“Of course you didn’t mean that!” I spat at him angrily. For a moment we just stared each other in the eyes. I would’ve loved to have the ability to read Sungmin’s mind as his face kept his thoughts hidden from me. “But you’re right, I’ve changed. But not in the way you think, Sungmin.” He looked suspicious. “I’ve become stronger.”

 

HYUKJAE’S POV

A shaggy, abandoned-looking house was right before me and Hangeng. He gave me a worried look before pulling himself back under the cliff where we were hiding. Hangeng couldn’t sense it, but I felt the powers radiating from the house under my skin. The energy was huge, scary, and even though I knew I was the most powerful thing in the universe, I was still cautious. One wrong move and those powers could attack us at any moment.

_“What’re we gonna do?”_ Hangeng asked through the link I had created between us. As soon as we had left Earth we had agreed to use it instead of speaking aloud. This way I could hear him and he could hear me even if there were miles between us. And no one else could hear us.

_“I’m not sure.”_ I admitted while keeping my eyes on the house. _“I can’t sense anything else but the energy… it seems to be coming off the house itself. And I can’t sense any living things there.”_ I really did sound desperate, which Hangeng also pointed out with his confused look. For a moment he didn’t say a word and I finally turned to look at him as I felt his stare on me.

_“You mean, that this house–“_ He pointed to the house with an angry look in his glowing eyes. _“–is like the labyrinth under your mansion?”_

_“I’m afraid so…”_ I muttered and lowered my gaze. I had gained almost the full control of myself but it was starting to slip from my grip. We had been down there long enough for me and Donghae’s bonding to begin fading. And seeing Hangeng so upset didn’t really help me anyhow. If Hangeng lost his temper, nothing could hold him down. Well, almost nothing. Of course I could always stop him and do as I wanted but I didn’t really want to hurt him anymore.

“Fuck this…” Hangeng growled aloud. My eyes flamed up immediately. He had broken our agreement and possibly exposed us to the powers the house possessed.

_“Hangeng.”_ I warned him through our link. He cursed again, louder this time but he kept it in our thoughts. I tried to calm my nerves again by taking a deep breath, shaking my head and turning to look at the house. The energy hadn’t changed. I hoped we were still safe and sound, unnoticed.

_“Sorry…”_ Hangeng finally muttered and I could smell his anger calming down, but he was still on guard. He also knew the consequences if he lost his temper or even worse, if I lost it. Neither of us wanted to experience either of those. _“What’s the plan?”_

_“We wait.”_

_“For what?”_ He turned his questioning eyes back to me. They were still glowing, but so were mine.

_“For something to happen.”_ I told him and tried to both, sound and look calm. It was a weak attempt, really. He never believed me.

_“And what if nothing happens?”_ He demanded. I didn’t have words to answer him. Yes, what if nothing happened? We wouldn’t be waiting for that ‘something’ for forever. I closed my eyes and rubbed them with my other hand while leaning my forehead on the rock. The smell of his emotions got mixed with wonder but I ignored it. I already knew what he was about to ask.

_“I’m fine, Hangeng. Stop worrying over it.”_ I groaned tiredly.

_“The bonding is fading. You should go back.”_ He was right.

But: _“It’s still there. We’ll manage a little longer.”_

_“Don’t be stupid Hyukjae.”_ He fixed his position and leaned his back to the rock and crossed his arms over his chest.

_“I am not.”_

_“That ‘a little longer’ is ‘much longer’ on Earth.”_ Hangeng pointed out.

_“I know, alright?”_ I was getting tired of his stubbornness. _“We’ll manage.”_ I’m not sure who I exactly meant by the word ‘we’ as it could mean either me and my powers, or me and Donghae…or us three altogether. But he understood me and fell quiet. I tried to relax again and will the powers to withhold again but then something caught my attention.

I jumped up and peaked from behind the cliff. Someone was walking towards the house. The person was still too far for me to identify him, but he was definitely closing the distance between himself and the house. And the powers of the house noticed him also.

_“Shit!”_ I cursed when I finally caught the person’s scent. _“It’s Heechul!”_

Hangeng’s eyes widened and he also stood up to take a look. Indeed, Heechul was walking towards the house with serious expression on his face. Anger and fear radiated from him although he kept his walls up rather well.

_“Hyuk, stop him.”_ Hangeng snarled. I was surprised to see how he managed to keep himself where he stood instead of bolting off to Heechul. They did share a rather heated past after all, and I knew their feelings hadn’t really changed, no matter what they said.

I focused my powers on Heechul, who was becoming more and more certain of his attempts, and managed to get him off guard by attacking the walls protecting his mind. He came to a halt, breathing deeply.

_“Get the fuck out of my head, Hyukjae.”_ He spat as he let me in.

_“Heechul, listen to me.”_

_“You think I’m going to stop now? My mother is in there, I know it.”_

_“Heechul–”_ I forced my voice to sound composed as I spoke to him. At the same time I let Hangeng join out little conversation, which Heechul seemed to miss. _“–back away.”_

_“Please Chul, let us do this.”_ Hangeng persuaded him. Only then did Heechul notice Hangeng’s presence and spoke out a nasty curse in our ancient language.

_“Where’re you?”_ Heechul asked furiously.

I sighed deeply before answering him. All the while I kept my eyes on him and on the house. Since the house had noticed Heechul it would be just a matter of time before it noticed us also. _“Walk back to the bigger street. Hangeng will be there to catch you up.”_

Hangeng cast a nasty look in my direction but left the cliff without a word. I followed his presence until he reached the line where I couldn’t sense him anymore. Fortunately, Heechul also did as I had told. He sent a dirty look towards the house before turning his back to it and walking away. I sighed in relief and slumped back down.

_“We need a plan, Hyukjae.”_ I heard Hangeng’s voice and grimaced at the tone. He was getting really frustrated. I didn’t answer him. I didn’t have a plan of any kind. Now that we had found Heechul, we had to keep him with us. But he didn’t have any powers unlike me and Hangeng. And the house kept itself as a mystery. I didn’t have the slightest clue what it held in it.

_“I’m going there alone.”_ I told the two of them.

_“What?”_ they exclaimed in unison. I held back the animalistic growl that was about to leave my lips and instead growled at them in their heads, making sure it was strong enough to make them both flinch.

_“I said, I’m going alone.”_ I repeated myself. _“Hangeng, please go check on Donghae. Heechul, stay up there with him. Only Hangeng comes back.”_ Neither of them answered me. I waited for a while, ready to lose my mind and make them suffer for disobeying me but then I felt our connection break. It could only mean that they had left this world. Apparently the link could only function if we were in the same world although it could handle huge distances.

Alright, now that I was alone I should make the first move. Hangeng wouldn’t be in danger if I acted now. But something held me back and that something was my powers. They were getting restless because of the rapidly fading bonding.

_‘You can’t go there alone. Hangeng won’t ever find you if you do.’_ The powers inside my head told me. This wasn’t the first time the other me had opened up to me, and I hated it.

Unfortunately, he had a point there. If the house indeed was like the labyrinth, Hangeng wouldn’t be able to find me and neither would I find him. I didn’t know what the house was like from the inside. I could see two floors from the outside, but it didn't tell much. The number of rooms couldn’t be told and who knew if there was a basement?

_‘You should go to Donghae.’_ The powers spoke, sounding way too casual to be good.

_‘No. Just a little longer.’_

_‘If you go now, you’ll be able to come back and spend more time down here again.’_

Gosh, just how much I hated to admit that the powers were right. If I went now, stayed for a few nights, nothing much would happen down here. But I wasn’t ready to take the risk and leave the house unguarded now that we had finally found it. And in addition to that, there was no guarantee that Heechul would stay out of this place.

“You’re doing poor job on hiding yourself…” I heard a whisper. I looked up from where I sat and saw Kangin’s glowing eyes from a distance. I immediately created a mental link with him, which he gladly accepted. _“You let your mind drift. That’s not a good sign…”_

_“Our bonding’s getting weaker.”_ I told him quietly as he sneaked closer.

_“I can see that.”_ He stated simply and sat down next to me. _“I saw Hangeng run away a while ago.”_ It was a statement, but I knew he was curious for the explanation.

_“He took Heechul back on Earth and checks on Donghae at the same time.”_

_“You’ve gotten better with your powers.”_ He said suddenly, but I didn’t really pay much mind to him. Just made an unintellectual sound to tell him I had heard his words.

He was quiet for a moment before he turned around and reached to look at the house. _“So this is where they are hidden.”_ He muttered, much like he would’ve thought without me listening. I immediately bombarded him with a demand of explanation.

_"You know this place?”_

_“My father was the one to build it. Just like he built the labyrinth under your house.”_ I was stunned. I never knew who had built that labyrinth.

_“Do you know anything else about this house?”_ I asked but the weak smile on his face already told me the answer.

_“I know even less about it than you do.”_ He said anyway and sat back down again. I closed my eyes and pressed my head down as the powers inside me were making a fuss about our bonding. The headache that had been annoying me for days now increased as the powers tried to take over.

_“Hyuk.”_ Kangin regained my attention and I opened my eyes to show him I was listening. _“You’re endangering your bonding. Go back.”_

_“I can’t. I must stay until Hangeng returns.”_

_“But if the bonding doesn’t last long enough?”_ That was the question I was battling with myself. The bonding was losing its strength in an alarming speed. And my control over the powers was slipping at the same rate.

_“It’ll last.”_ I tried to assure myself more than Kangin. He knew what it could be like to let the bonding fade enough for it to almost disappear. That had happened to him and Jungsoo once and it had almost killed Jungsoo. If Kangin had been there only moments later, he would’ve lost his mate, for good. Even the Devils can’t really bring people back to life – well, they can, but the person will not be the same.

Our old butlers, servants and maids had mostly been humans who had died and whom my grandfather and then father had brought back to life again. My personal butler, Edward, had lived in the 1500-century Britain. He had been the King Henry’s servant and what I had understood, he had been one of the most appreciated servants in the kingdom.

I had put one of my memories of him on the book I gave Donghae. In the picture Edward was scolding me for messing up my room. I did that rather often as I wanted him to be there, cleaning up my mess and keeping me company. Whenever I felt lonely he would comfort me. I think he was also my first crush and only crush before I met Donghae. But his personality was different from what it had been when he was alive. He had been disciplined and very straight forward. But when my father gave him another life, he became soft and child-like. When he was allowed to choose his appearance, he chose to look the way he did at the age of 25. He had been rather handsome, to be honest. But he had died of old age and I could really understand his choice of appearance.

_“Hyukjae, are you listening?”_ Kangin’s voice snapped me out of my memories.

_“Sorry, what?”_

_“I’ll be here, waiting for Hangeng. You really need to go back to Donghae.”_

_“Really?”_ I was astonished and it seemed like my brain refused to cooperate with me. For a moment I stared at him, not really comprehending what he had just offered me but when he gave me a knowing look, I nodded. _“Thanks. I’ll tell Hangeng to come back immediately.”_

_“I’ll be waiting for him right here.”_ I thanked my cousin once more before dematerializing into the air.

I materialized right behind the door of our apartment, not really wanting to freak Donghae out by accidentally appearing right in front of him. I listened to the sounds coming from the apartment. Hangeng and Heechul were there with Donghae, I could sense them. But it was the atmosphere that made me frown. Something wasn’t right.

I willed the lock to open and silently slipped into the apartment. “Donghae?” I asked aloud. The smell of emotions changed at the very same second. “What’s going on in here?” I made my way towards the living room, where I found Hangeng and Heechul sitting on the couch. Both of them turned their wide eyes to me but kept their mouths closed and mind barriers up.

Donghae was in the bedroom. The door was closed and locked so I knocked gently on it. “Donghae, honey, it’s me.”

He didn’t answer. I grit my teeth together and tried again but when I still heard no answer I rolled my eyes and just materialized right on the other side of the door. The lights were off, it was pitch black. I tried to turn them on but when nothing happened I gave up and just used my powers to see in the darkness.

Donghae was lying on the bed with his back to me. He wasn’t asleep, I could tell it by the way his body moved as he breathed and his emotions were a mess of smells. Silently I walked closer to him but came to a stop when I realized just what he was wearing. Leather pants hugged his skinny legs, chains and belts decorated his hips and the black wife-beater showed off his skinny upper body. He had lost a lot of weight. And his hair… his beautiful brown hair was now black with bright orange stripes on. He had cut it short on the sides and pushed the rest of the hair up.

“Donghae?” I whispered and touched his bony shoulder. He flinched at the touch but said nothing. Worried, I knelt on the floor. The hand on his shoulder stayed there as my eyes took in every little detail of his body.

“Go away.” His voice was barely audible. My heart sank at the words but I kept myself composed.

“What’s wrong?” I asked calmly. A spike of emotions hit my senses and forced me to concentrate on them for a brief moment. Was he…afraid of me?

“In the morning…” He muttered. “Come back in the morning.”

It was already morning. The sun was about to rise.

“I’m not going anywhere.” I told him and shook my head. “Not until you tell me what’s going on.”

“You’re not here…” He whined. My eyes widened, not understanding what he was saying. I didn’t really like it, but my powers were nagging at me, telling me to look into his mind. Donghae had clearly decided not to tell me anything otherwise.

With a silent sigh I reached out for his mind. To my amazement, he protected his mind. Sungmin had succeeded in teaching him although they couldn’t have tested his abilities anyhow. But the barrier was fragile and it didn’t require much from me to gain access to Donghae’s thoughts.

“You can still tell me yourself.” I warned him softly, but when the answer I got was absolute silence I took the control. His memories were blurry, only flashes going in front of my eyes. Parties, drinking, more parties, razor blades against his perfect skin and white powder in lines on a table. I was shocked to see those images.

“You shouldn’t have done that…” Donghae muttered. _”I thought you were just another hallucination.”_ He added in his thoughts. I tried to swallow but my mouth had gone completely dry.

“Why?” I croaked.


	16. The Plan

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning: sexy time~~

Why did he have to come? Hangeng had told me he would come soon as our bonding was about to die, but I hadn’t expected him to come this soon. Only a day after Hangeng and Heechul…

And the moment he decided to show up was when I was coming down from high. Perfect!

“Why?” He asked silently. His voice sounded just as painful as a stab with a knife.

“I missed you…” I whispered as tears fell down. The pillow under my head was already soaked and I hurried to wipe off those few tears. I felt him stand up but I didn’t dare to move. The lock of the door clicked, the door opened and closed. 

I broke down. I cried harder than I had done in a long time. He just walked away from me. I had ruined everything. I should’ve listened to Sungmin when he told me to stop using that stuff. In the matter of fact, I should have never even tried them! 

I didn’t care if the others heard me in the other room. So what? They knew what I had done. Hangeng and Heechul had caught me in the action by appearing in the living room. I had almost choked on the drugs when they spooked me like that.

I did try to stop the tears as I heard the door open again and close right after. I hiccupped awkwardly and furiously wiped the tears from my face. 

“Donghae. Sit up.” Hyukjae’s voice was soft yet commanding. At first I didn’t obey but then he violently broke the barriers of my mind and I found my body moving on its own. Or actually, my body moved the way Hyukjae wanted.

I tried to look away but he didn’t let me. Instead, he forced me to look him in the eye. I hated how weak he made me feel as I looked into his glowing eyes. The look in them wasn’t angry nor did show any signs of him exploding at me. It was much worse. He was disappointed.

“Here’s what we’re going to do. You’ll get your head sober and then we’ll talk. You’re going to change your clothes, have some sleep and when you wake you take this painkiller.” He said and showed me the pill on his palm. “And when you’re done with all that, you come to the living room. Hangeng's gone and Sungmin will be here soon to pick Heechul up so I will be alone when you wake. Understood?”

I nodded weakly, impressed that I could move my head on my own. “Good.” That was all he said before he got up, placed the painkiller and the glass of water he had on his other hand on the table and left the room. I stared at the door for a moment before I slowly stood up. I did just as Hyukjae had told me to. First I took off the wife-beater but then I stopped. 

The full-length mirror to my left showed me my mirror image. Even in the dark I could see the condition I had got myself in. My hip bones stood out clearer than they should ever do. The leather pants were like a second skin on me, making my legs look longer than what they really were as they looked like two thin sticks. I was thinner than what was healthy. I hadn’t really had much appetite in the past months. I looked down to my hands and even though I couldn't see the scars properly, I knew they were there. Before drugs I had tested if cutting myself would help to erase Hyukjae from my head. I had dropped it out, though, as I realized it did nothing else but ruined my skin.

With a sigh I opened the belt and started getting rid of the leather. I had given up wearing any underwear underneath the leather pants, so after the pants were lying on the floor I was naked as a baby. Hyukjae hadn’t said anything about the make up on my face so I didn’t even bother to go wash it off. My head was heavy as I crawled into the bed and soon fell asleep under the warm covers.

 

I stirred when the sun shone straight onto my face. With a groan I turned on my other side but it was too late. I had already woken up and now I was unable to fall asleep again. With a groan I turned to lie on my back and pushed myself up on my elbows. The curtains were fully open, letting the sun light lit up the room.

My mind registered the headache when the sleepiness slipped from my eyes. Rubbing my face on my hands I pushed off the covers and swung my legs over the edge of the bed. I didn’t bother to put on any clothes as I shuffled to the door, opened it and made my way to the bathroom.

“Morning.” 

I was about to have a heart attack when I heard Hyukjae’s voice. I had totally forgotten he had come back… actually I couldn’t remember much about yesterday. It wasn’t anything new, forgetting usually made it easier for me to continue through the following day.

“Morning…” I croaked with my hoarse voice. Hesitating for a moment, I slipped into the bathroom. I hurriedly closed the door and locked it. “Shit, shit, shit, shit…” I muttered as ran to the bathroom cabined and ripped the doors open. Had Hyukjae found my in-case-of-emergency -box? I could practically feel how all the colors slid from my face. My stash was empty. 

Just to make sure that the small box was really empty, I took it into my hands. Not a single white spot. Like there had never even been any cocaine. 

I put the box back on its place, closed the mirrored doors of the cabinet and leaned my weight on the sink, staring at my image. The make-up was messed up and to be honest, I looked horrible. I blew my hair from my face and leaned down. The cold water soothed my headache a little and at least I got most of the black stuff off my face. 

When I was finished, I grabbed a towel to cover up my privates. I was ashamed of my own condition, _really_ ashamed. I took one last look at myself through the mirror before opening the door and slowly walking to the living room only to find Hyukjae sitting on one of the armchairs. He had leaned forward with his elbows resting on his knees and his head on his hands. 

“Sit down.” He said when he noticed me. I didn’t really like his ordering tone of voice but I knew better than to oppose him. My whole body was stiff as I sat down on the couch in front of him, keeping my back straight. He kept his eyes fixed on me whereas I tried to avoid looking into his eyes.

“Explain.”

“I don’t–“ His piercing gaze made me shut up before I could even finish my sentence. I didn't know what to say or where to start...!

“Remember what you told me before I left?” He kept his voice cold, emotionless, but I knew just how pained those words were. “You promised me you’d be alright. This¬“ he pointed at the pile of white powder on the table in front of him. I hadn’t even noticed it there. “–is quite the opposite, Donghae.”

“You don’t understa–“

“Oh I think I understand well enough. I was gone for far too long.” He muttered darkly and his eyes flashed orange, which made me shudder. “The bonding had gotten too weak.”

I stayed silent. 

“But what I do not understand is the reason why you drowned yourself to this stuff.” 

This time he waited for me to answer him. I sighed, closed my eyes and let my face fall downwards. “It was the only way to forget you…” I whispered weakly.

“Half a year is a long time, I know that. But you changed more than I expected.” 

My eyes snapped open. What did he mean by that? I mean, I knew I had changed quite a lot, but had I changed too much? Did he… 

“Stop that.” He said and rubbed his eyes. He hadn’t slept and looked almost as tired as I felt. “Stop worrying over such nonsense.” He stood up and walked over to me. I watched him as he knelt right in front of me and took my hands into his. My skin felt so cold in his warm hands…

“I can’t say I’m not disappointed.” Hyukjae said. “But I don’t blame you. I blame myself for putting you into this situation.” 

“Hyuk…” I whispered his name. The headache was constantly gnawing on the back of my head and the room was too bright and my whole body seemed to protest. But I forced myself to look him in the eye. “I’m sorry.” I told him weakly. I sounded pathetic, really, but I meant it.

“Me too.” He gave me a small smile and reached to kiss my cheek. I sighed and let my heavy eyelids slide down. “You didn’t take that painkiller, did you?” Hyuk whispered into my ear. Shivers went through my body as his hot breath touched my skin. 

I shook my head and soon he was forcing me to swallow the pill and drink the water. I almost choked on it but willed the pill down anyway. 

 

Hyukjae was slowly rubbing circles on my chest. I cracked my eyes open to see him lying next to me, his naked body pressed against mine, with his head resting on his hand as he had propped himself up on one elbow. His eyes glowed in the darkness but I already figured he used his powers to see properly in the dark room. 

I moaned when his fingers ran over my nipple before wandering down to tease my belly button and then follow the line of hair down under the blanket that covered my lower half. His tender fingers swiped over my soft cock and went even further down to play with my balls. I moaned again, louder this time, as I felt my cock hardening once again. 

“Morning, sweetheart.” Hyukjae murmured into my ear before biting down on the earlobe. I let out a whimper which he took as an encouragement and wrapped his fingers around my now hardening body part. He kissed my ear and began to kiss my neck and jawline until he reached my lips. Without a moment of hesitation his tongue invaded my mouth, challenging me into a tongue-battle that he would win anyway. But I did try to win him, which earned me a sexy growl from him.

I gave up the tongue battle when the fingers released my cock. Soon his finger was lingering over my hole, teasing me, making me go crazy. Without any kind of lube he eased the finger in and made me submit to him entirely. 

The stretch wasn’t painful as I was still kinda loose after last night. He easily stretched me enough for me to take his hardness in. I whined loudly and gave him my best pout when he suddenly pulled his fingers out. 

I was confused at first when he climbed on top of me and straddled my chest. But when I realized I was staring straight at his cock, I knew what he wanted. Just to ensure my thoughts were correct, he thrust his hips forward and his cock hit my cheek.

“Suck. That’s all the lube you’re going to get.” 

And I happily took him into my mouth. I had done this many times enough to know what exactly he wanted me to do in order to drive him crazy. With my cheeks hollowed I sucked him. I used my tongue to tease him by putting pressure on the thick vein going on the underside of his cock. His moans encouraged me and soon I was gagging around his shaft as he fucked my mouth, hard.

And then he pulled himself out of my mouth. My lips were swollen and my breath came out in short puffs. He dropped himself on the bed next to me and gave me a wicked grin.

“Ride me.” I swallowed but did as he told. I usually preferred being under him but once in a while he wanted me to do all the work. Fair enough, I guess. 

I climbed on top of him and took a hold of his cock. He gave me an encouraging nod and slowly I sank on him. My spit wasn’t even close to being enough to ease the pain. The dry drag made me grit my teeth but I knew it would get better as soon as I got used to the stretch. 

I was a moaning mess when he took a hold of my hips, keeping me still as he thrust his hips up. Skin slapping on skin echoed in the room along with my moans. We were both panting and sweating and the smell of sex filled my senses. 

God how much I had missed him. He pulled me down to capture my lips while his thrusts became erratic. My hand closed around my own needy cock and began to push me towards the edge. Too soon Hyukjae stilled, his cock pulsing inside me and filling me with his hot fluid. I whined and tried my best to make me cum but he slapped my hand away from myself.

“Let me do it.” Hyukjae told me. I moaned approvingly. I pushed myself up and felt how his softening cock slipped from me and the felling of his cum leaking out made me shiver. Gently he pushed me to lie on my back and got on his fours. 

I adjusted the pillow behind my head so that I could watch him devour my cock into his hot mouth. Boy, it felt so good. I tried to fight it, to prolong the pleasure, but seeing Hyukjae watch me with my cock in his mouth was too much for me. Involuntarily I closed my eyes as my hips jerked up and I shot my cum into his mouth. I felt him swallow around my overly sensitive cock. He earned a satisfied moan from me by giving a lick to the head of my cock before releasing me from his mouth. 

He leaned up to give me a kiss, pushing his tongue into my mouth without giving me any options. The taste of myself on his tongue had me squirming and trying to push him away but he had something else in his mouth. He hadn’t swallowed everything and instead made me take the rest of the cum into my own mouth. He had never done that, I had never tasted myself before.

“You’re so sexy when you try to fight me, Donghae-ah.” Hyukjae laughed softly when he finally pulled back after forcing me to swallow. I made him a face but his laughter wiped away all the insults I had been ready to say. Yes, he was cocky sometimes when it came to dominating during sex, but in the end I didn’t really mind. 

“I need a shower…” I murmured. He grinned, which made me roll my eyes. I already knew what that grin meant. He pushed me up and followed me to the bathroom, all the while keeping his hand on my lower back. 

“Hyuk, seriously?” I asked when he pushed me under the shower and turned it on. I cried out when the cold water hit my skin and tried to escape but he didn’t let me. Instead he blocked my only way out of the cold stream. He took the head of the shower into his hands and started washing me with the cold water. I don’t know what kind of sadistic satisfaction he gained by making me squeal and shake, but then he turned up the heat of the water and it practically burned my skin. 

He washed me thoroughly, paying more attention to my lower parts than I thought was necessary. And when he decided I was clean enough, he ordered me to bend over and support myself on the wall. Without a warning he plunged himself into me again. I cried out, surprised.

And this went on and on through the whole day. In the shower, in the kitchen, on the couch and in bed again… I think we did it on every surface possible in various positions.

The next day our bonding was healed, complete, again. 

 

“So you want to take me back there?” I asked, unsure of how to react. Was I really well enough to go back? I wouldn’t want to risk my life anymore… I had had enough of that by now.

“That’s what I was planning… You survived quite a long time there and without Kibum you would’ve probably handled it even better. You’re stronger than Sungmin.”

“I don’t know, Hyuk…” I muttered and lowered my gaze to the tea cup in front of me.

“I’m not going to leave you again, Donghae. Not this soon.” It was clear that Hyukjae had already made up his mind. Even if I tried, I wouldn’t be able to change it without an argument, which I really didn’t want to have. “Besides, now there won’t be any threats. Kibum’s gone and…” His voice cracked a little and he left the sentence to hang in the air. 

“I know. It’s just…” I started but when I looked into his eyes, I already knew it was pointless to continue. “Hyuk, please. There are things I have to do.”

“Such as?” He asked and raised his eyebrows as he leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms over his chest. I hated it when he did that, challenging me without even knowing what I was about to say.

“I want to meet my parents.” I blurted out. His mouth fell open in awe. 

“You want to do what?” He asked.

“I’ve been thinking of doing it ever since I heard they have our wedding photo.” I told him quietly. “I just never did that. I was too distracted by...everything.” By ‘everything’ I of course meant the drugs and the life I had lived while Hyukjae had been gone. 

“Are you really sure you want to do that?” He asked and leaned forward to place his head on his hands with his elbows on the table. “I mean, it’s been almost 10 year already since you spoke to them…”

“I know.” I agreed. “But I want to see them. I cannot be sure what will happen in the future after all that has happened… with you being the Devil with all those powers of yours and me trying to kill myself, twice. I just don’t know what tomorrow will bring and I want to at least try to fix our relationship. They are my parents after all, and I’m their son, whether they accepted it or not.”

“I understand.” Hyukjae said with a gentle smile. “What do you want to do then?”

“You need to go back, to help Heechul’s mother out of that place.” I told him, suddenly feeling more confident than I had expected. “Tomorrow I’ll drive south to Mokpo to meet my parents. If everything goes fine, I’ll be back to Seoul in a couple of days.”

“And what then?”

I gulped. “I guess I want you to come and take me back there.”

“What are you going to tell your parents when you suddenly go missing again?” 

Oh, shit. I hadn’t thought about that. And how am I going to explain them the time I was missing… They really thought I had committed suicide. How am I supposed to tell them that I was in Hell for a year or so?

Without a word I showed Hyukjae I had no idea how to explain them my disappearances. He nodded and silently told me to figure it out before going there. And he was right.


	17. Mark

After a little over 5 hours of driving I parked Heechul’s car on the side of the street. I didn’t dare to drive the car right in front of my parents’ house… Partly because of my parents and partly because of the car itself. Heechul was, let’s say, very conscious about the way other people saw him. In other words, the car was expensive as hell. I didn’t want to give my parents any false thoughts about my own wealth. They would be extremely disappointed if they found out the car wasn't mine after all...

With heavy heart I got out of the car, locked the doors and turned to the direction of my old home. My feet were like lead and my heart tried to pound its way out of my chest. Too soon I found myself standing right before the front door of the house. 

_‘No backing away now, Donghae. You can do this.’_ I encouraged myself and with a deep breathe I knocked on the door. 

I swear I forgot how to breathe when I heard the lock click and slowly the door opened. The first thing I saw was my mother’s beautiful yet confused eyes. 

“Yes?” She asked. Didn’t she recognize me? I was a little taken a back.

“Hi mom…” I said quietly. Her expression changed from confused to utter happiness as she opened the door wide open and accepted me into her arms. She cried and praised for god. But most of all, she apologized for everything. She whispered it over and over again into my ear while stroking my hair. Her hands were shaking. And I wrapped my fingers around the fabric of her shirt while trying to hold in the tears that were threatening to fall.

“I’m so sorry, Donghae, my baby boy…” She whispered when she finally released me from her hug. “Let me take a look at you…” She said and held my face in her hands. Tears were still clear in her eyes, which only made it harder for me to stay composed. “I’ve missed you so much.”

“I've missed you too.” I surprised myself by how hoarse my voice was, thick with tears. But she only nodded and asked me to come in. I took off my shoes and neatly placed them under my jacket that I put on a hanger. She had rushed into the kitchen where she put on a water boiler. I stood by the door, leaning on the doorframe while taking a look around in the kitchen. Nothing had changed since I left. The table and the chairs were still the same, the cabinets were of the same color and even the order of the room hadn’t changed a bit.

“Where is he?” I asked suddenly. I saw how she tensed up at my question but carried on what she was doing. 

“He’s at his friend’s funerals.” Then she looked up at the clock on the wall and let out a small sigh. “He should be back at any moment now.”

I could feel my shoulders tensing up although I tried to hide it. She probably didn’t notice it as she smiled warmly and asked me to get comfortable in the living room. 

The last time I had been in this room, I had been sitting alone on the couch. Nothing had changed here either. Even the photos on the shell over the TV screen were in the same order. A smile grew on my face as I saw the photo of my family, all happily smiling. I took the photo into my hands and took a closer look at it. I had been maybe 4 or 5 years old when it had been taken. At that time everything had been perfect. 

“I always take a look at it before going to sleep.” I heard my mother say. I had failed to notice that she had come to the room and was now standing right next to me, her eyes on the photo. With a faint smile I put the photo back on its place and followed my mother to the couch where she already sat. She gestured me to sit next to her and offered me a cup of tea.

“You’ve changed.” She said silently. I had just taken a sip of the tea and almost spat the liquid out. “I mean… you’ve lost weight…” She hurried to add. I tried to force a smile on my face as I put the cup down on the table.

“I’ve had… a little rough time.” I admitted. I knew I should prepare myself for a rush of questions that my mother would ask me. Although I had promised Hyukjae to figure out what to say beforehand, I hadn’t prepared an explanation for my disappearance. Nor could I explain Hyukjae’s disappearing. Telling her Hyukjae’s true nature was of course out of the question, but I also hated the idea of lying to her. 

I saw how she also tried to smile, but it didn’t reach her eyes. Apparently she wasn’t able to put her thoughts into words as she settled with one nod instead. I took a deep breathe. “For the past few months I was kind of lost, mother. I did some things I’m not proud of.”

“I don’t understand.” 

“I used drugs, mom. I was depressed and got myself on the wrong path.” She had always been religious and telling her about my hard time was definitely not easy. “I’m not the boy you used to know anymore.”

“You don’t need to tell me this. Not now.” She said softly but I could still hear the pain in her voice. 

“No, I want to tell you.” Because I wasn’t sure if I would ever be able to do it if I didn’t do it now. “Me and Hyuk…we had rough time. He went missing half a year before I tried to…” I didn’t finish the sentence. The look in her eyes was enough to assure me she knew what I was talking about.

“I don’t mean to inquire, but what did you do when you…went missing?” 

“I travelled around. And mom, please don’t judge me, but I got involved with some bad things.” She nodded and for my utter amazement, she smiled softly. She really didn’t judge me. 

“And hence the drugs. I understand that.” 

I was just about to thank her for accepting me but was interrupted by the sound of the front door opening and closing. I shared a worried look with my mother before she silently told me to stay put and left the room. I tried not to lose my cool but when I listened to my parents’ conversation, it became harder than I thought.

“You cannot be serious!” I heard my father yell and it was certain he wasn’t as pleased to see me as my mother. And sure enough, he barged into the room with furious look in his eyes. I bolted up and automatically bowed. It was an old habit anyway. 

“Before you say anything, please listen to him.” My mother told her husband who seemed to be frozen on his place. I was still with my head bowed and I tried to keep my eyes on the floor. Without really noticing, I grit my teeth when my father’s shoes came to my view. 

“Alright. Explain.” He said. I stood up and looked at him. I must admit I was a bit frightened to see his cold and calculating gaze. I felt like a little boy again.

He sat down in one of the arm chairs without taking off his shoes and crossed one leg over the other. His body language already told me that he was not going to really listen to what I was about to say. With my mother’s encouraging touch on my shoulder I sat back down on the couch and explained him the same I told to my mother.

I also told them how I had unwillingly brought my friends to danger by my drug usage. I lied to them that I had owned money to one dealer and he had blackmailed me by hurting Sungmin and Heechul. My mother believed every word I said although I could tell how she thought everything was because Hyukjae left me. My father on the other hand blamed everything on me – which was true, of course. 

“But, he’s with you now?” My mother asked when I finished. Crap, I should’ve known they’d ask that question. _Improvise, Donghae, improvise!_

“He’s back.”

“Then where did he go?” My father asked. It was the first time he spoke after he told me to explain. 

I gulped audibly. “He umm… he flew out of the country to meet his brother.”

“To meet his brother?” My father asked. Clearly he didn’t believe a word I said.

“Then why didn’t he tell you?” My mother asked.

_IMPROVISE!_ “It’s because of his brother… I shouldn’t really be telling you this…” I’m such a bad liar…

“Okay, we’re not forcing you.” My mother said before giving my father a look. I knew what it held in. She really didn’t want my father to chase me away again. I mentally kicked myself for getting myself into this situation but it had been necessary in order to heal the relation between us.

 

“Donghae, here’s a towel for you.” My mother spoke from behind the door. I had been in the shower but forgotten the towel into my room. She had been kind enough to get it for me. I thanked her and reached my hand out, cracking the door only enough for my arm to fir through. 

I thanked her and quickly retrieved my hand and the towel and closed the door. With the towel around my lower half I stared at the pile of unfolded clothes on the floor. Deciding not to bother, I just grabbed them with me and left the bathroom. 

“I left you some midnight snack to eat in the kitchen. I’ll be going to bed already.” My mother told me as soon as I got out from the bathroom. I nodded and thanked her again before heading to my room. Just when I was about to open the door my mother spoke. I thought she had already gone to their bedroom. 

“I didn’t know you’d gotten a tattoo on you…?” 

“What?” I exclaimed before even realizing. I turned to look at her, utterly confused, only to see her pointing at my lower back. I twisted to see what she was pointing at.

Alright. There was a black picture on the back of my hip, just above the line of the towel. I had never seen it there before! _Play it cool, Donghae!_

“Oh, that one…” I muttered absent mindedly. “It’s nothing. Just go to sleep, mother.” I told her with a smile that I hoped she would buy. And apparently she did as she told me good night and closed the door of their bedroom after her.

I went to my own room, switched on the lights and ran to the full length mirror that was handing on the wall next to my wardrobe. I turned my back to it and stared at my reflection. 

The picture – tattoo, whatever – was shaped like a ring surrounded by flames. The picture was rather small, but it was much clearer and more detailed than any tattoo I had ever seen. Sure I had been living in a haze but I was certain I had not gone and taken a tattoo while being high! I had never even considered taking one!

I must call Sungmin and Heechul about this. Maybe they know what this is about…

I hurried to pull on a pair of pajama pants and typed in Sungmin’s number as soon as I got my phone into my hands.

“I have a frigging tattoo on me!” I wanted to scream but knowing my parents were in the room right next to mine made me keep my voice hushed. 

“You have what?” Sungmin asked. He sounded sleepy.

“Shit, did I wake you up?”

“No, actually you didn’t. I was just about to call you anyway. What tattoo are you talking about?”

I took a deep breath and turned to look at the picture through the mirror again. “It’s on the left side of my lower back. A ring on fire…or something.” He hummed. “Sungmin, I don’t remember taking a tattoo!”

“Then it’s not a tattoo. It’s probably the mark of your bonding or something. I don’t know much about it, but it’s nothing to worry about. I think.”

“And that was supposed to ease me up? It hasn’t been there before!” 

“There’s no need to freak out because of that.” Sungmin said. He sounded somewhat strained. I wanted to argue with him but hearing his tone of voice made me change my mind.

“What was it that you wanted to talk about?”

“Heechul left.” He said shortly. The words felt like a bang on my stomach. 

“What do you mean _left_?” 

“He went back Down. I tried to stop him but he almost took me with him. There was nothing I could do about it.”

So now Heechul was there. And me and Sungmin were unable to travel between the worlds unlike the people of the other worlds. Great, just absolutely great. Now Heechul would risk all the plans Hyukjae had and could also ruin everything. He didn't have those powers needed and even Hyuk didn't know for sure what that house held in. Hell, he wasn't even sure if Heechul's mother really was there or not.

"Donghae, are you still there?" Sungmin asked bringing me back on Earth. 

"I'm still here. I just… Gosh, why did he have to do it? He's gonna ruin everything!" 

"He said something about getting his mother from that house and then come back. That’s all I know." Sungmin said and sighed. "Guess we'll just have to wait and see what happens."

I knew he was right. There was nothing we could do. If I only could tell Hyukjae about this…

"When are you coming back?" Sungmin asked suddenly. I raised my eyebrows at the unexpected change of topic.

"Not sure. I'm gonna spend at least a day or two here. It's not like any of them will be back anytime soon." And with that I bid him good night and ended the call. I was getting tired after all that had happened during the day. Seeing and talking to my parents after all these years had required much more energy than I had expected. With one more look at the print on my skin I walked over to switch off the lights and crawled into the bed.

 

_"Run, Hyuk!" I span around to see the person screaming. It was dark, everything seemed to be on fire and it was hard for me to see the person yelling. But I could still make out a figure of a house standing solid in front of me. And someone was running towards me, away from the house._

_I couldn't recognize the person as he ran right past me, accidentally bumping into me. I didn't fall but the push shook my balance and I had to concentrate on staying up on my feet._

_An uneasy, anxious feeling overwhelmed me. And the ground began to shake under me._

_I looked up at the house and saw another person running towards me. Only this one wasn't living. I don't know how I could tell it, but this person was dead. And thus shouldn't be running towards me._

_What the hell is going on?_

_"HYUKJAE!" I heard that previous person scream again. I turned to see where he was but as I turned, I saw no one._

_A pair of bony arms wrapped around me._

 

I woke up, soaked in sweat and panting hard. My whole body was shaking. 

"Just a night mare…" I murmured to myself, trying to calm myself down. "It was just a night mare." 

Taking my time while sitting on the bed I tried to get rid of the images repeating in my mind. The fire, the house, the person yelling at Hyukjae's name…

Wait. That person was yelling for Hyukjae instead of yelling at me.

That was odd. 

Shouldn't my night mares be about myself? But why had the person yelled for Hyuk?

I buried my face into my hands and tried to concentrate on the clicking of the alarm on the night stand. The night mare had completely washed away all the remaining bits of sleep and it wasn't even 4am yet. Tiredly I got up and pushed my feet into the old furry slippers I had found from the bottom of my wardrobe. My mother had put there all the old stuff that I had left behind, which was actually very heart warming. 

I didn't bother to put on any shirt, just made my way to the bathroom. While standing in front of the toilet I happened to glance around and my eyes hit the cabinet with mirrors on the doors above the sink. For the first time in a few days I felt my body grave for coke. I hadn't really given myself time to think about drugs. Or, to be honest, it had been Hyukjae who had kept me busy and not given me a chance to even think about the stashes of cocaine that he had mercilessly thrown away.

I groaned but then the mirror image of myself registered in my mind. The memory of the flaming ring made me want to see it again. I finished up quickly before rushing to the sink. I had to stand up on my toes to be able to see it through the mirror. But it was worth the trouble. Seeing the mark still there let an odd calming feeling into my mind. I admired the picture through the mirror until my neck hurt from twisting around.

I wondered what the mark was really about. Could it really be the mark of our bonding? But why had I not noticed it before? And Hyukjae hadn't mentioned it either. Why did it appear now when Hyuk wasn't there to explain me! Even Hangeng wasn't there. He had told me most of the things I knew about their world…

After drinking a glass of water I decided to go back to bed. The likelihood of the night mare to come back was minimal, at least that's what I tried to assure myself. 

However, the same night mare repeated itself and I woke sweating and scared right before my mother came to tell they were about to leave for work.


	18. Freedom

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning: violence
> 
> A/N: Sorry for not updating in a while!! School's been a bitch...  
> BUT I'm happy to tell you all that the fic is completed and now I just need to upload the chapters after proof-reading them!! ^^

I cursed at the sharp pain on my lower back. For the first time the mark was really burning. I knew it would probably happen sooner or later as the bonding grew stronger, but never did I expect it to react like this. 

Someone knocked on the door and I quickly tucked down the shirt. “Hyuk, we’ve got a problem.” Hangeng’s voice told me. 

I groaned, tired of having these problems already. 

The house had led us nowhere. Hangeng and I had gone in, leaving Kangin outside. He had been supposed to back us up but his bonding with Jungsoo had become too weak for him to stay away from the other. They hadn’t really been separate in ages so the bonding had been shocked because of the distance. So the bonding had forced him to leave, which had caused some trouble. 

I had already been outside in standby when Hangeng had run out of the house. The smell of his emotions was only emphasizing his words as he screamed at me, telling me to run. He didn't tell me what had caused all the fuzz but he had distracted my attention enough for me not to notice a dead person running towards me. Arms had wrapped around me and to my horror I couldn’t reach the person’s mindset. It was the first time I had come across a dead one and I hadn’t really known I couldn’t fight them with my powers. Not the mental ones, at least.

Instead I had to use physical force to get rid of the dead. Fortunately the person was much weaker than me and his body was nothing but skin and bones. I twisted myself from his grip right before he could sink his teeth into my shoulder. 

Panting, I ran to where Hangeng was standing frozen on his roots while watching the scenery in front of him. I also turned to look in the direction of the house only to see the person that had attacked me standing on his spot. Not even a single hair moved – he looked like a horrible statue.

“They’re there.” Hangeng muttered quietly. “Let’s leave.” 

We walked backwards for a few meters before turning around and running. From what I had understood, the powers of the house didn’t reach very far but we couldn’t know whether there were more dead humans coming to get us. And since I couldn’t use my mental powers on them, I couldn’t risk letting them get us.

 

“Hyuk, seriously.” Hangeng persuaded, startling me from my thoughts, and opened the door without my permission. 

“Have I ever told you how much I hate your cocky attitude?” I growled at him but gave him a grin to assure I wasn’t really mad at him. I finished pulling my socks on before asking him what problem had he been talking about was. 

“Before I say anything, I need to make sure you won’t freak out.” 

I jumped up from the bed as his words sank in. “Is it about Donghae?” 

Hangeng shook his head but his expression didn’t make me feel any less worried. “It’s Heechul.” 

“Shit.” I spat and turned around. I expected pushing my fingers through my hair would ease my sudden anger but it didn’t really do anything. Hangeng only hummed in agreement. “Where is he?” 

“I couldn’t track him well enough. He appeared near his old home but he’s not there.” 

“I swear I’ll kill him when I get my hands on him.” I snarled and kicked the wall. Heechul would just ruin everything! I most definitely had not planned on saving him if he went to the house by himself. And besides, he couldn’t protect himself in any way. He was like a free meal for those dead people.

…although I wasn’t sure if they really ate anything…

“Try to find him as soon as possible. I’m going back to the house to see if he’s gone there.” I told Hangeng, who nodded, bowed a little and left the room in a hurry. At the very same moment as the door of my room closed I grouched down and reached for the book I had hidden under my bed. For some reason my guts told me to take a look at it one more time before going to the house to see if Heechul had gone there.

The mark had appeared the previous ‘day’ when me an Hangeng had been surveying the house. The moment we got back to the mansion I had buried myself under different books, trying to look for an explanation. I had already known it was the mark of my and Donghae’s bonding, but why had it appeared on me? I had expected it to appear only on Donghae since it was me who did it…

This book I had found had been forgotten in the library and it had taken me a good while to find it. But right now it was the most important treasure I had. 

Based on what the book said, the mark was the proof of our bonding turning into a physical one - nothing I didn't know already. If something happened to either of us the other would know it through the mark. And the picture was my family symbol. The ring on fire. It had been the symbol of the Devil family since the beginning.

The thing I just couldn’t understand was why it had appeared on me and why now. We had been together for over ten years now and it’s been about two years since I gained the powers. So why now? I had done the mark on him as soon as I had gained enough control over my other side, but it hadn’t worked. And I hadn’t really even tried to do it again after Kibum died, since I was sure Donghae would be safe and thus the mark would be rather pointless.

Suddenly Kibum’s words echoed in my mind, bringing in the memories I had tried to forget. _His body and mind refuse the drugs and spells I’ve tried. How did you do it?_

I slapped my forehead when the realization hit me. Kibum had been probably wondering the same thing since the mark hadn’t been there when he had tried to break our bonding. So basically it should’ve been much easier for him to break it. The mark worked as one kind of a seal, once it was burned on one of our bodies, the bonding would be almost impossible to break. Even killing the other wouldn’t be enough to break it, which was why both of the pair would die in a short time period from each other. 

If Kibum had been wondering the same thing as I was now, it only increased my astonishment. He had always been much smarter than me when it came to these kinds of things. 

I pulled up the shirt and looked at the picture on my skin. ‘Why didn’t he manage to break Donghae?’

Smoothing the shirt back down I sat on the bed and opened the book. I had already read it through last night but I hoped I had missed something important that would give me answers. So far the book had only backed up my own ideas and hadn’t really provided much new. But I was determined to find answers to my questions. 

 

I was searching for some old maps about the area of the house in the study when Hangeng and Heechul marched in. I glanced over my shoulder to see Hangeng looking fairly calm whereas Heechul was ready to explode. Shaking my head slightly I stood up from the floor.

“Why are you here?” I went straight to the point and bored my eyes on Heechul. 

“You know well enough.” The older snarled. Hangeng once compared angry Heechul to a snake and now that I saw my hyung shaking in anger I had to mentally agree with Hangeng. 

“I told you to stay away.” I managed to keep the venomous tone out of my voice but couldn’t help the angry glow from creeping into my eyes. Hangeng noticed this and immediately tried to calm me through our link but I cut him off before he even had a chance to say anything. Heechul on the other hand ignored my reaction completely, continuing his arrogant act.

“And I told you I would find my mother.” 

“Heechul…” Hangeng muttered and placed his hand on Heechul’s shoulder in a calming manner. But Heechul shoved him away.

“I don’t care. You’re not going there and risking your own life.” This time I didn’t even try to hide my anger and disappointment from my voice. With that I turned my back to them and grouched down to explore the maps spread on the floor again. It was my way of telling them this conversation was now over.

A gasp startled me as I expected they’d get the hint and leave. I turned my head enough to see them. I raised my eyebrow in question as I saw both of them gaping at me with wide eyes.

“What?” I spat, annoyed beyond everything. 

“You have the mark!” Heechul exclaimed. In a different situation I would’ve laughed at his mood swing but right now all I could do was frown.

“What about it?” I asked nonchalantly. 

Hangeng looked at me in disbelief. “Why didn’t you tell us?” 

“What was there to tell you?” The volume of my voice rose as I stood up and turned to fully face them again.

“Would’ve been nice to know that if you get hurt also Donghae suffers.” Heechul spat, his angry mood returning, although it was different now. My eyes flamed at Donghae’s name, my other side reminding me how these two had taken him away from me when we rescued him from Kibum. It had taken me a while to assure my other side that it had been the best but being away from him was still against my and my powers’ will. 

“It’s nothing. Now leave.” I growled through my gritted teeth. They shared a look that I couldn’t fully interpret before they left the room. 

The maps revealed nothing new to me. According to them, there were no tunnels leading to the house, nor was there even a basement. But I knew I couldn’t blindly trust them. Hell, they even claimed that our mansion didn’t include an underground labyrinth. So basically there could be anything under that house. And the only way to find out what exactly that ‘anything’ was, was to go there myself.

Frustrated, I threw the maps across the study and rubbed my temples tiredly. There had to be a way to know what was in there without going in. When we had managed to actually get into the house it had turned out to be a wrong move and the dead person had attacked. 

It was pointless to continue looking at the old maps although there were a few left that I hadn’t even opened yet. Closing the door of the study I made my way to the stairs and jumped them down. I wasn’t really hungry but a relaxing bath would definitely be nice.

I could sense Hangeng and Heechul behind the door of the living area. I cursed my luck since the royal bathroom was behind the living area. I was just about to open the door but froze at hearing Heechul’s voice. The mentioning of my name made me focus harder on their conversation.

_“But Hyuk didn’t have it when Donghae was here, right? And Donghae was also clean of marks.”_

_“I know. That’s probably why Kibum was so confident about breaking their bonding. I don’t think he would’ve taken any chances if he had known better.”_

_“But he did. He took you to see Donghae, didn’t he?”_ Heechul received only something unrecognizable in reply. _"But why would the mark appear now? I mean, they've been together for ages!”_

_“I wish I knew. It is usually made in one or two ‘rotates’. I don't know why it took this long for Hyukjae to actually do it… Nor do I know why he has it also.”_

I had had enough of the eavesdropping and pushed the door open. Both of them shut their mouths, audible snaps echoed in the room. I paid no attention on them whatsoever as I marched to the door leading to the bathroom. 

I waited for the huge bath tub to fill before stepping in. The water felt even better than I had expected. I sat down and relaxed, letting my body to slide under the surface for a moment. I remembered how Edward had always been worried to death – what a funny coincidence – whenever I dove under the water and stayed there as long as my lungs allowed. I had always enjoyed being under water. There I wouldn't be able to hear the sound of the mansion and for once had time for myself only. But my pleasure was cut short by a sudden rush of feelings – that weren't Hangeng's nor were they Heechul's. 

Startled I pushed myself above the surface to breathe but the feelings didn't go anywhere. I couched the water out of my lungs and tried to replace it by air, which was hard. My body was clearly graving for something. I just didn't know what! 

Cutting my bath short I stumbled out of the tub, grabbed a towel and wrapped it around my hips before running out of the room. Hangeng was alone in the living area, gave me a confused look but fortunately kept his mouth shut. I wasn't sure what I would've snapped at him if he had asked what's wrong. I was sick of hearing that question already!

 

None of us dared to make the first move as we stood on the bottom of the stairs leading into the house. Heechul had been able to change my mind although I had been determined not to allow him come with us. But there we all three were, waiting for something to happen. 

“I’m going in. I can’t stand this anymore.” Heechul whispered. I didn’t stop him, knowing it would be worth nothing. I didn't even react to the fact that he didn't use the link between us three. And I did follow him as he pushed the doors open and marched in. The house seemed to be totally empty, deserted with a thick layer of dust covering the floors and furniture. But like me and Hangeng had seen, at least one dead human lived under this roof. 

The silence in the house was broken by our silent breathes. When nothing unexpected seemed to happen, Heechul asked me if we should spread up. I nodded. _"Go upstairs with Hangeng. I'll check the downstairs."_

Fortunately they didn't argue and together headed to the stairs while I took a look around in the room, which obviously had once been a fancy living room. It made sense, if the house had been built by Kangin's father –after all, he had been my uncle, the only brother of my father. It basically meant wealth. 

The silence caused the hair on my neck to stand up. There was something wrong with this place, I just couldn't tell what it was. I remembered how the dead had been able to approach me without me noticing it and it caused me to become anxious. While constantly looking over my shoulder I approached the other room behind the living room. The door was open but it didn't mean there couldn't be anything hiding behind the corner, so I took my time and cautiously entered the room.

It was a small study but when taking a closer look at the book shell I noticed a small nub that didn't really fit in. I pulled at the nub and a ear-breaking roar was heard from behind my back. I span around immediately, fearing for something unpleasant to happen. Instead a door appeared on the wall.

Stunned, I approached the door. And right when I was about to touch the handle of the door, something touched my back. 

'The fuck?' Those were the words I repeated in my mind as I turned around. A dead human was standing only a feet away. By a quick look at the floor I noticed no other foot prints in the dust other than mine. 'Creepy.'

When the dead didn't make a move to a direction or to another, I had time to get a better look at him. It was hard to recognize him at first but when I did recognize his bony face with hollow cheeks and completely white eyes, I felt like throwing up.

_"Guys, I found Ryeowook."_ I spoke to Hangeng and Heechul, who both shared the same shock as I did. I ordered them to keep looking for Heechul's mother, but seeing the boy I briefly knew from my youth forced me to think of the condition we might find Heechul's mother in… And I wasn't sure if I wanted to find her anymore if her condition was the same as this boy's.

I was frozen on my place, not sure how the boy would react if I made a wrong move. Time seemed to slow down when the boy suddenly lunged forward, trying to get a hold of me. I was fast enough to react but avoided his bony fingers only barely. 

I jumped aside but then realized it wasn't me Ryeowook was attacking. Another dead body had just opened the door that had only a moment ago been behind my back. I watched with wide eyes as Ryeowook's small frame tackled the other body down and they both disappeared to the darkness behind the door. I waited for a moment, but when all I heard was silence, I slowly peaked behind the corner. Using my powers I could see a narrow staircase leading down. The two must've fallen down the stairs although no sounds were heard.

When I couldn't see anyone in the stairs, I decided to go down. Unfortunately, when I had taken a few steps down I lost the connection with Hangeng and Heechul. I cursed but going back was no option now. 

I saw absolutely no one in the hallway after I reached the bottom of the staircase. Looking up I realized how the basement must've been put under a spell since absolutely no light came through the open doorway. The only way to see where I was going was to use my powers. The anxiety in me didn't make it easy though, as the powers immediately wanted to take over. If something happened to me, the powers would be forced to leave my body. And neither of "us" really wanted that to happen.

I told my powers to keep it low and let me handle this. The last thing I really wanted now was to lose it.

Keeping my guard up I walked down the hallway until I came to the end of it. The hallway continued to left and right. Shit, which way to go now? If the basement was like our own labyrinth, I might not be able to find my way out of here, ever. 

Just as I decided to go to the right, a shiver went through my body. The same graving returned that had been there before. And I still didn't know what it was that my body seemed to desire so much…

Taking another turn to the right I came to a dark door. Trying to reach behind it I came up with nothing, so the only option left for me was to open the door.

I wished I had never done that.

Bones, skulls, skeletons… all lying around in an enormous room. They were all over the floor, on tables, on beds and on chairs.

'I found her…' I thought while sorrow clouded my mind. Taking a careful step into the room made my stomach twist as I accidentally stepped on a bone that cracked loudly under my shoe. Making a face every time I broke a bone I walked further into the room and slowly took in the amount of bodies lying around. 

A sound of bones moving startled me and I turned around only to see Ryeowook standing by the door. He blocked the door rather efficiently, and it seemed to be the only way out of the room. I watched the boy as he made his way closer to me. Not a single bone cracked under his bare feet. He only moved them a little. 

"Ryeowook?" I spoke out his name, startled because of how weak my own voice sounded. He said nothing as he kept on decreasing the distance separating us. 

Only when he was standing right in front of me, did he open his dry mouth. "Please…" He croaked and looked down at the bones. 

"What do you want me to do, Wook?" I asked. I really wished I could've read his mind, but he was practically dead. But why wasn't he like the others, lying around in the room in a form of a sceleton? And who was the other person he had pushed down the stairs that had then disappeared?

"Kill…me." He said weakly and turned his white eyes to me. I didn't understand his request. He was already dead, alright? But as I looked into his empty face I could see a small hint of hurt and sorrow. I wasn't sure though, as it's rather hard to read dead people…

"Please." He said again. A dead silence fell into the room. My body was still shaking a little, graving, and my mind was slightly shaken by the sight of Ryeowook and all the bones… 

But I did as he asked. An odd calmness clouded me when I reached my hands towards him and wrapped my arms around his head. I pressed his body against mine, giving him one last hug before adding more pressure on my hands. And twisting them. 

In a blink of an eye, I was hugging a lifeless body against my chest. 

Gently I laid his body on the ground and closed his eyes. I had set him free of this place. He didn't need to suffer anymore. 

Getting back to the stairs wasn't easy. Just as I had expected, the basement was like a labyrinth. I wouldn't have made it back there without my powers that were guiding me. I was relieved I had sent Hangeng and Heechul upstairs as they would've been lost forever in this godforsaken basement. 

I stepped into the light of the study only to come across with the other dead human. Now I recognized him to be the one that had attacked me and Hangeng the last time we'd been at the house. He wasn't facing me and neither did he turn when I approached him. 

He didn't even resist when I wrapped my arms around his head just like I had done to Ryeowook. Like he would want me to do this. And soon he was lying at my feet. Now that I looked at his dead face I saw some familiar features but I couldn't connect him to anyone I knew. 

I called for Hangeng and Heechul, using my own voice this time as there was no reason to communicate through the link anymore. The powers of the house were somehow weakening all the time, which made me feel a lot easier. The two ran to me, looking horrified at seeing the body at my feet.

“What happened?” Hangeng breathed out.

“Heechul, I–“ I couldn’t say it. A quick look at the door behind them told them enough and Heechul was fast to react. He disappeared into the darkness with me and Hangeng following him. I showed him the direction to the dark door full of bodies. Hangeng was about to follow him in but I stopped him by placing my hand on his shoulder.

“Don’t…” I was able to say before we both heard Heechul’s scream. Hangeng blinked his eyes, utterly shocked. He knew, as well as I did, that Heechul's mother was gone. He wasn’t stupid. 

“Let me go to him.” He pleaded. The look in his glowing eyes left no room for arguments and I released him.


	19. Sympathy

I cursed and watched my hands shake. After being two weeks without drugs one would already think I had gotten over it, but the graving only got stronger and stronger every day. And so did my longing to be with Hyukjae again. Sungmin had taken on the role of a baby sitter now that Hangeng wasn’t here and I could almost feel his eyes on me even when I knew he wasn’t around.

I let my hands fall on the bed where I was lying on my back, staring at the ceiling. Whenever my thoughts weren’t on the drugs, I found myself daydreaming about Hyukjae. How was he doing down there? Had they succeeded in rescuing Heechul’s mother? Were they injured? And when would I see Hyukjae again? 

This was one of those days when I would practically do nothing. It was already past midday and I was still wasting time in bed, glad in my boxers. How many days would I still spend like this – doing nothing but thinking of drugs to relieve my withdrawal symptoms and of Hyukjae to help me relax and feel complete again? Gosh, that sounded so cliché. 

I drew air into my lungs as much as I could before blowing everything out, trying to get rid of the nervous and restless feeling of my body. I had to do something before I went nuts again… Maybe going out for a walk or jogging would help?

But that thought died when I looked out of the window. Everything was gray and the water came pouring down from the sky. So no jogging today then. Frustrated beyond the limit I hit my fist on the wall, missing the window just by a few inches. The wall stayed intact unlike my knuckles which started bleeding. I took my time to look at the wounds, mesmerized how easily my skin broke… and it didn’t really even hurt.

Maybe it was because of the lack of drugs that my body was protesting against and thus my body somehow missed the fact that I just punched the wall…

I realized how mad I would’ve looked to an outsider right now. Quickly I put my hand back down and walked to the living room. I walked straight to the TV, turned it on and jumped on the couch. Channel surfing should’ve eased my mind but all it really did was to make me even more frustrated.

“Could you please stop hitting the wall? It hurts, you know…” My head jerked to the direction of Hyukjae’s familiar voice. 

“When did you–??” I exclaimed and without any kind of hesitation ran to him. I almost knocked both of us down as he didn’t have enough time to prepare for my hug-attack. 

“Two seconds ago.” He chuckled softly and wrapped his arm around me. For a moment neither of us said anything as we stood there, arms tightly around each other. It felt too good to have   
him back to be able to put it into words.

"Did you find Heechul's mother?" I asked and pulled back to see his face. His eyes revealed something hadn't gone according to the plans.

He sighed. "We did."

"So what's wrong? Shouldn't you be happy about it?"

"She is dead. Has been a while already." 

I clamped my hand over my mouth. "Poor Heechul…" I muttered and turned to walk back to the couch. How horrible it must be for Heechul right now. He had been so determined to find his mother and when he had finally found her she was already dead. Everything they did, they did for nothing. 

“I asked Hangeng and Heechul to pick Sungmin up and come here. There’s something also Sungmin has the right to know.”

I was too sorry for Heechul to actually understand what Hyukjae said. The realization came to me only later when all five of us were sitting in the living room of our apartment. Hangeng and Heechul were sitting on the couch together, Sungmin had occupied one of the arm chairs and Hyukjae the other. I was sitting on the floor while leaning on Hyukjae’s legs.

“So, you had something you wanted to tell me?” Sungmin asked, breaking the awkward silence. Hangeng and Heechul both turned to look at Hyukjae, expecting him to be the one to speak. Hyukjae placed his hand on my shoulder before speaking.

“I’m not sure where to start…”

“I understood you found Heechul-hyung’s mother.” Sungmin said, helping Hyukjae by giving him the starting point.

“Yes… Heechul had found a clue of his mother’s whereabouts. Fortunately me and Hangeng were able to deduce where he was heading and were there before him. From the outside the house seemed to be completely abandoned, but later on we came across with two dead humans.”

I raised my eyebrows. “But the house was abandoned, if there were only two bodies left, right?” I asked. Hyukjae pushed my shoulder and gave the barriers protecting my mind a shove. It was a rather clear message to keep my mouth shut.

“The other one I couldn’t recognize but the other…” Hyukjae trailed off and a silence followed. I watched how Hangeng and Heechul shared a look before lowering their gazes to the floor. Sungmin seemed to be just as confused as I was. “The other one was Ryeowook.” 

Sungmin’s hand moved to cover his mouth as tears threatened to escape his eyes. 

“The point here is that… Please Sungmin, this is hard for me also.” Hyukjae tried to continue but his voice cracked. I reached for his hand on my shoulder and wrapped my fingers around his. “Ryeowook wasn’t dead… I mean he was, but part of him was still alive.”

“I don’t¬“ Sungmin muttered and shook his head. “How?” 

“None of us knows how or why.” Hangeng spoke, seeing how hard it was for Hyukjae to finish telling about this boy, Ryeowook. I squished Hyukjae’s hand harder. “But he’s free now, Sungmin. He’s not with us anymore.” 

Sungmin nodded. “Thank you.” He whispered and wiped away those few tears that had fallen on his cheeks. 

There was certainly something I didn’t know. And I had a hunch that they might never even tell me. All three of the others nodded, accepting Sungmin's words.

"Sungmin, I know this might not be the best time to ask for this, but could you recognize the other person? None of us knew him, so…" Hangeng asked tenderly. It took Sungmin a while to react but when he finally nodded Hangeng turned back to look at Hyukjae. 

"I will need you to lower your guard, Min." Hyukjae spoke softly. "I will only show him to you."

I watched Sungmin carefully when he nodded once again. His react was immediate as Hyukjae showed the person's image in his mind. A small gasp left his mouth before he breathed out the person's name. 

"Yesung?" Heechul asked. It was the first time he had spoken. Only now did I realize how unusually quiet he was. 

"Yes, he was Ryeowook's older brother." Sungmin said slowly.

 

I stepped into our bedroom after turning off the lights in the apartment. Hyukjae was already lying on his back in bed but I could tell he was still wide awake. I smiled faintly when he wrapped his strong arms around my body, pulling me closer. I nuzzled my face on his chest and let out a shaky breathe.

"Are you ever going to tell me about that Ryeowook?" My words cut through the silence. He didn't give me an immediate answer but instead moved his other hand to play with my hair while he crossed his finger of the other hand with mine.

"Ryeowook was someone very close to Sungmin. I think we were only 15 when Sungmin came to our world. He wanted to save Ryeowook."

"What did he want to save him from?"

"Cancer." Hyukjae sighed. "Ryeowook was about to die and my father had the habit of paying the dying children short visits before they would be gone. Somehow Sungmin managed to see him, although he always kept himself hidden from the others."

"You mean you can also be invisible?" I was slightly surprised but then I realized just how rudely I had changed the subject. I immediately apologized. 

"Yes, I can. You think I would've been able to sneak into the bathroom to give you a mild heart attack without that ability?" He chuckled softly and ruffled my hair. I whined and pushed his hand away but gave up when he resisted. 

"So why did your father bring Sungmin to your world?" I asked, going back to the subject on hand.

"I don't know the exact reason. Me and my father weren't really close…" Hyukjae muttered. "But I guess he was scared. Scared because a human had seen through his powers." I hummed. "I understand him, I mean, I would freak out if you could suddenly see me when you aren't supposed to and so on." 

"So your father was afraid of his secret to leak out?"

"That's my best guess." He murmured. I pushed myself up and supported my head on my hand while taking in his appearance in the darkness. His eyes were closed and his breathing calm. He was just about to fall asleep, but I wasn't ready yet. I couldn't just ignore all the question marks in my mind.

"Heechul was awfully quiet." I told him suddenly. He had probably just been about to slip into the dreamland as his body suddenly jerked at hearing my voice. The only answer I received from him was a hum. "I thought you found his mother. I expected him to be happier than ever."

"Donghae-ah…" Hyukjae groaned tiredly. "Can't we talk about these things in the morning?"

"No, Hyuk. I need to know. It's not like I'm going to be able to sleep without knowing."

"Fine…" He groaned and rubbed his eyes in order to keep himself awake. I tried to be patient as I waited for him to speak up but when nothing came out of his mouth, I pressed my finger against his side, knowing he hated having me poke on his ribs.

"Stop playing, Donghae." He opened his eyes and looked into mine with a certain harshness and seriousness in his eyes. I gave him an apologetic smile and placed my hand flat on his chest. "Heechul's mother's dead, Donghae. Isn't it a good reason to be quiet?"

"But–"

"There were many things I don't really want you to know." I wanted to argue with him, but held it all back as I noticed how tired and lost he suddenly looked. He had been through a lot, that much I could tell.

"I wish I could ease your burden somehow." I whispered and leaned closer to kiss his lips. He moaned softly.

"You have something else to say, I can sense it." Hyukjae murmured when I finally pulled away. My eyes widened in shock.

"How many times do I have to tell you not to mess around with my head?" I growled.

"I didn't read your thoughts!" He defended himself and emphasized his point by lifting his hands above his head. "I swear!"

"Then stop poking your nose everywhere!" I said that only to annoy him, to be honest. And it worked. I giggled as he crossed his arms over his chest, pushing me away and pouting childishly. I poked my finger on his side which had him squirming and jumping on top of me while pinning my hands down on the bed. 

"What was it that you wanted to ask?" He asked. His hot breathe washed over my face as I stared into his eyes that were mere inches away from mine. 

"Now that the worst night mare seems to be over, what are we going to do from now on?" I asked. His wicked grin disappeared as a more serious expression took over.

"What do you mean?"

"You obviously cannot stay here forever, can you?" I pointed out. "And I cannot live in your world. So how are we going to make this work?" 

"You're not even thinking of breaking up with me." He snarled. I watched how the flames suddenly appeared in his eyes but disappeared just as fast. A wave of panic hit me but I tried my best not to show it to him. Of course he smelled it, though.

"No! That's not it!" I quickly told him. "I just… I don't want to be away from you either!" 

He hummed in approval and sat up on my hips. I'm not sure if he rolled his hips against mine on purpose or not but the jolt of pleasure forced a mewl out of my mouth. I snapped my jaws together and turned my face away from him as he grinned down at me.

"I had been planning on travelling a little. With you of course." He said with another roll of his hips. I moaned again but turned to look at him.

"Travelling?"

"Yes. Since neither of us can stay at one place for long we're going to travel." 

He made it hard for me to concentrate on what he was trying to say as he started teasing me even more. I tried to reach for his upper body, to bring him down so I could kiss him, but he grabbed my hands again and pushed them down. "No, Donghae-ah. We'll do this my way now."

…didn't we always do it his way? I wanted to point that out, but held my tongue. He pushed himself up and suddenly flipped me around so my face was buried in the pillows.

"You know, I did wonder if your mark was exactly the same as mine." He murmured into my ear and earned me a surprised gasp as he traced the picture on my lower back with his fingers. The skin beneath the mark had become the most sensitive part of my body.

"I didn't know you had one also…" I whispered, not able to put any more volume to my voice. 

"Well, I do. And on exactly same spot." He withdrew from me and my whole body convulsed in pleasure as his tongue touched the mark. I moaned louder. As his tongue continued lapping on my skin his fingers wrapped around the waistband of my boxers and soon they were thrown on the floor.

"Hyuk–" I moaned out his name and tried to turn to face him but he pressed his tongue harder on the mark, efficiently making me drop out my actions. My hardening length was becoming painful as Hyukjae pressed my lower body hard against the bed, preventing my cock from getting up. 

"You know why I love the mark so much?" Hyukjae murmured against my skin and blew hot air over the mark. All I could do to answer him was moan. "I can feel all the pleasure I give you." I was making shameless noises while trying to grind against the mattress. Meanwhile Hyukjae let his fingers dance on my skin, all the while moving down until he was caressing the sensitive skin near my entrance. 

"How much do you know about the mark, Donghae-ah?" Hyukjae asked. I couldn't give him a coherent answer when a dry finger was pushed into me. 

"N-not much… oh god!" I tightened my grip on the pillow and screamed into it. I heard Hyukjae chuckle as he wiggled the finger around in me.

"It's the sign of our bonding. It's now complete, nothing can break it anymore."   
I cried out when he added another finger and spat on them. The warm spit slid into me along his fingers.

"But…" I panted into the pillow before gathering my strength and pushing my face up. "Kibum couldn't break it." I moaned and slumped back down. The third finger.

"I know." 

"Why?" 

"That I don't know." He laughed as he sped up the phase of his fingers. I lost my rational thoughts – all that had been left, I mean.


	20. Bubbling

“Donghae, come on!” Hyukjae whined by the door. I told him to wait just a few more minutes. I had to take one last look at myself through the mirror before I was ready to go. “Get your sexy ass here. I shouldn’t even let you make yourself so appealing! Everyone’s going to stare at you and I’m not really fond of having other people check you out.”

“Fine!” I groaned and pulled the leather jacket on and threw my bag over my shoulder. I took a final look around the bedroom to make sure everything looked fine and neat. I didn’t want to come back and start cleaning immediately. Hyukjae had already opened the door for me when I exited the bedroom. I earned a sharp slap on my rear as I passed him and I gave him a dirty look in return.

“You earned it!” He defended. “You were the one I had to wait for half an hour. Plus, you’re absolutely breath-taking.” 

“So where are we going?” I asked, purposely ignoring his compliment. He frowned at me but I just grinned at him.

He shook his head with a smile. “Let’s just go somewhere more private first. I don’t want to freak people out by just dematerializing right in front of their eyes.”

“Why didn’t we do it at home then?” I asked. He smirked. Damn he knew how to tease me...!

I waited for his reply as we walked down the street. We didn't take a car as we actually didn't live all that far from the center. It didn't take us long to walk there. Hyukjae kept on teasing me and refused to tell me why we couldn't dematerialize in our apartment. I asked it over and over again until I was tired of repeating myself. I knew he would give me the answer when the time was right.

“Because–“ He pulled me closer to himself as we walked on the street. Finally he was ready to answer me! “There’s something I want to show you.” I cocked my eyebrows at his mischievous look. He winked at me and suddenly shoved me to the side. I stumbled on my feet at the sudden impact but managed to keep myself on my feet. I found myself standing in a side alley, right behind one of the night clubs we used to hang out at. 

“You remember this place?” Hyukjae asked. I swallowed and nodded without saying a word. “It was the first time I really felt like kicking myself. I just let you slip away although I should’ve held you.”

“I was practically freaking out. You were the first one who ever approached me in that sense.”

“And I will always remember your face when I surprised you on the dance floor.” I blushed. I remembered that too. It had been only a few days after Hyukjae had moved into the same dorm room with me. And I hadn’t really had time to befriend with him properly. 

“I had the right to panic. I barely knew you and there you were, grinding against me from behind.” I punched his arm playfully. 

“I would’ve never expected you to be as naïve as you were at the time.” Hyukjae teased me. I cast him a mean look that he ignored.

“I had just realized that the problem why my relationships with girls never worked was my own sexuality. It’s not like I had had time to chase after boys before you stepped in.”

“Oh gosh, I would’ve ripped every guy’s eyes out that would’ve laid their fingers on you if you had had anyone before me…” Hyukjae growled but kept the smile on his face.

“But you didn’t envy the girls that I had been with?” I grinned as he frowned. We both knew how popular I had always been among girls.

“I should’ve thought about that…” He muttered. I reached to give him a playful kiss on the cheek, which lightened up his mood again.

“But I had so much fun messing around with you.” He laughed. I tried to pout but couldn’t really force myself to be angry at him. That had after all been the event that had changed the course of our relationship and eventually lead to this moment. 

“You embarrassed me so bad. I hated you for doing that to me – in front of everyone.” He gave me a wicked look, telling me at least he had enjoyed it. “I don’t regret it though.” I told him with a smile. 

“Me neither.” He leaned in to give me a kiss. 

The moment our lips touched I felt my stomach twist. Keeping my eyes shut I prepared for the awful feeling that was about to come as me and Hyukjae dematerialized. The feeling of having my body disappear was the most horrible feeling there was and I felt like throwing up – which I would’ve done if I had been attached to my body.

I sighed in relief when I felt the solid ground beneath my feet again. Hyukjae withdrew from my lips, but kept his arms secured around me until we were complete again. My vision swung for a while and I clung to him until the dizziness passed. 

I looked around, trying to figure out where he had brought us. We were on Earth, that was clear. But the place was unknown. Noises of busy traffic were heard although we were in a dark alley similar to that one behind the club. 

“Where are we?” I asked in awe and look up at the sky. Tall skyscrapers grew above us, bright lights illuminating the black sky.

“You once told me you’d like to see New York.” Hyukjae whispered into my ear. 

“Get out of here!” I exclaimed and without a second thought ran to the direction of the streets. I stopped abruptly at seeing the Empire State building towering in front of me. My mouth fell all open. There were no words to describe my excitement.

“You’re welcome.” He said and kissed my neck. Back in Korea I would’ve told him not to show his affection to me on public but we were in the States. From what I had understood, they approved gay couples much easier than the Asian cultures, so I didn’t mind. 

“C’mon, I have a hotel room booked for us.” 

The hotel was right next to the Central park. It’s underestimated to say it looked luxurious. I had no idea how Hyukjae could afford even the cheapest rooms they had.

“Alright, up we go.” He said as he came to me from the reception with a bellboy following him. The boy asked us to follow him as he showed the way to our room. He also insisted to carry our bags there. I had to hide my grin as the boy looked rather astonished by the fact that there were only two bags for him to carry. Hyukjae had told me to pack lightly as he didn’t want to transfer huge suitcases with us. 

The bellboy led us to the elevators and pressed the number of our floor. 

“22?” I asked aloud before I could stop myself. Hyukjae gave me a wicked grin but said nothing. I gulped and moved my gaze to my feet.

“I hope you enjoy your stay here, sir.” The bellboy said and bowed at Hyukjae as he gave him a large tip. I raised my eyebrow at my husband, who smiled widely and closed the door after the bellboy.

“Sir, huh?” I asked and crossed my arms. He laughed at my pout, told me I would be treated the same way as he was. 

“But the problem here is that I was the one to book the room–“

“The suite.” I corrected him.

“The suite.” He repeated while rolling his eyes. “However, you’re the wife here. So while I’m being treated like a king, you’re the queen here.”

“Stop that Hyukjae.” I growled at him. I had never liked the way he thought I was the female here. “There are two men in this relationship.” 

“Alright, alright.” Hyukjae smiled as he walked closer to me. I kept my arms crossed and the frown on my face until he pouted and opened his arms, inviting me to hug him – which I did, after making him wait for a minute or two.

“Tell me, how could we afford all this?” I asked him. The guilty look in his gaze told me I wouldn’t like the answer I was about to get. “Hyukjae?” I asked warily. 

“I might’ve used my powers. But only a little.” I huffed. “I did it for you.” He smiled and coaxed me to go to the balcony with him. The view was absolutely amazing. All the lights in contrast with the darkness of the night… And even at night the city was busy and alive. I knew Seoul was a big city but it was nothing compared to NY.

“Tomorrow we’re going out to the Central Park and eat some Italian food. At night we’ll check out the night life.” Hyukjae said with a wink. 

“Sounds awesome.” I breathed out. 

“But right now,–” Hyukjae said. I knew that tone of voice – it meant Hyukjae was planning to do something I didn’t like. “–we’re going to take a bubble bath.” And with that he scooped me up and threw over his shoulder. I yelped and scolded him as he carried me through the suite. He ignored my demands of putting me back down and just patted my ass. I pounded his back but it didn’t have any kind of effect on him. 

“Will you strip yourself or do I have to do it?” He asked when we reached the bathroom. He still kept me on his shoulder and wouldn’t put me down before I answered him.

“No way I’m going to let you do it.” I spat at him. Gently he put me back down and took a couple of steps backwards. I watched him lean on the counter, dumbfounded. “What?”

“You wanted to strip yourself. Go on, don’t be shy.” He teased me. I made a face at his amused expression. He wanted a show so that’s what he was going to get. I made a mental note not to reveal the idea that had formed in my head as I slowly began taking off my clothes. Piece by piece they fell on the floor and I made sure to do it as sensually as I possibly could. And it worked. 

When I was glad in my boxers, standing on the pile of clothes, Hyukjae plunged forward. He was faster than lightning as he got rid of his clothes. He was completely naked in front of me when I finally took off the last piece of clothing covering up my manhood. 

“You did that on purpose.” Hyukjae growled deep down in his throat. Need was dripping from his voice as he spoke and reached his hand down to rub my length that was getting harder, fast. “Get in.” He groaned into my ear and roughly turned me around. My eyes were wide as I saw the huge tub now in front of me, filled and bubbling. 

I didn’t waste time standing there. I wanted to feel the warm water surround me. I hurried in and giggled like a child. Hyukjae followed suit and pulled me against his naked glory. 

“Happy anniversary, Donghae-ah.” 

I froze. Was it our anniversary day? How could I forget it?!

“S-sorry.” I stuttered and turned around only to find him smiling victoriously. 

“I don’t blame you. It’s been kind of a ride for you for the past couple of years.” He told me with a smile.

 

The bubble bath was amazing. The sex in the tub was even better. And then showering with Hyukjae. I was exhausted when we finally made it to the bed.

“Donghae-ah. There’s one thing you must promise me.” Hyukjae said when he came to bed with me. My eyes were already closed and I was ready for the sleep to take over, but fought to keep myself awake for a little longer. 

“What is it?” I asked quietly. 

“Don’t go anywhere without me.” I snorted, of course I’d go anywhere with him, not on my own. Why would he even think about that?

“Isn’t that obvious?” I asked and shifted closer to him so I could be held close by him.

“Well, considering the fact that you’ve been without drugs for only a month…” He didn’t even finish. I knew he was just worried and since it would probably be child’s play to find a dealer from this city I understood him. But I was still slightly upset by the fact that he really thought there was the possibility for me to start using again.

“I promise you…” I kept a pause and opened my eyes, locking them with his. “I will never use drugs again.” My voice was firm, not leaving any opportunity for counter arguments. “But there’s also something you have to promise me.”

“Oh yeah? What’s that?” 

“Don’t you dare to leave me again!”


End file.
